BX  6333  .T8  05 

A  guest  for  soufs  ^^^^"1944 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 


A     QUEST     F 
SOULS 

Comprising  all  the  Sermons  Preached  and 
Offered  in  a  Series  of  Gospel  Meetings^ 
Held  in  Fort  Worth,  Texas, 
June  11-24,  igiy 


BY 

GEORGE  W/TRUETT,  D.D 

PASTOR,  FIRST  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  DALLAS,  TEXAS 


NEW  XBI^  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


^o'-^ 


COPYRIGHT,  1917, 
BY  J.    B.    CRANFILL 


Compiled  and  Edited  by 
J.   B.   CRANFILL,   M.D.,  LL.D. 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS.    XIII 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


FOREWORD. 

Ever  since  the  appearance  of  the  first  book  of  sermons  by 
Dr.  Geo.  W.  Truett  I  have  been  urging  him  to  permit  the 
publication  of  other  volumes,  with  the  result  that  I  am  now 
able  to  present  to  the  public  this  new  and  much  larger  book. 
His  first  book  with  the  title,  ''We  Would  See  Jesus,  and  Other 
Sermons,"  has  passed  into  its  twelfth  edition,  and  is  selling 
now  very  rapidly.  That  volume  contained  sermons  he  had 
preached  in  his  own  pulpit  in  Dallas,  and  a  brief  sketch  of 
his  life  and  labors.  The  present  volume  is  unique  in  that  it 
is  made  up  of  a  series  of  revival  sermons  preached  in  Fort 
Worth,  Texas,  to  which  are  added  the  prayers  offered  by  the 
author  of  the  sermons  during  the  meeting.  The  setting  of 
each  sermon  shows  forth  in  the  sermon  itself.  These  meetings 
were  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Broadway  and  College 
Avenue  Baptist  Churches,  of  which  Drs.  Forrest  Smith  and 
C.  V.  Edwards  are  the  respective  and  nobly  useful  pastors. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  these  sermons  were  stenographically 
reported  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Lord,  and  that  they  appear  practically 
without  revision.  I  have  gone  carefully  over  them  every 
one,  but  I  was  not  willing  that  any  substantial  changes  should 
be  made  in  any  of  them.  While  I  have  not  been  privileged  to 
examine  all  the  sermon  books  extant  that  have  been  printed  in 
the  English  language,  I  can  truthfully  say  that  there  has  never 
to  my  knowledge  been  a  book  of  sermons  published  that  carried 
messages  more  vital  and  winsome  than  are  herein  found.  In 
their  strength,  their  earnestness,  their  eloquence,  their  pathos, 
and  their  compelling  heart  appeals,  they  carry  a  pungency  and 
power  far  beyond  any  other  sermonic  classics  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  read.  These  sermons  do  truly  justify  the  title  of 
this  book— "A  Quest  For  Souls." 


vi  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

The  great  preacher  whose  sermons  here  appear  is  so  shrink- 
ing in  his  modesty,  which  ofttimes  reaches  the  point  of  timidity 
concerning  any  work  of  his  own,  that  it  has  been  a  Herculean 
task  to  secure  his  consent  to  the  publication  of  the  sermons 
that  are  here  given.  The  reader  will  rejoice,  I  know,  when 
I  say  that  I  have  in  hand  sufficient  material  for  several  other 
books  of  sermons  by  Dr.  Truett,  but  I  am  having  trouble  all 
along  to  secure  his  consent  and  co-operation  in  their  publica- 
tion. It  is  only  when  I  have  pressed  upon  his  great  heart  the 
insistent  appeal  that  he  allow  his  sermons  to  be  published  for 
the  good  they  will  accomplish  In  "A  Quest  For  Souls'*  that  my 
pleadings  have  been  crowned  with  success. 

And  now  it  is  with  joy  unspeakable  that  these  sermons  are 
sent  out  to  the  world.  That  they  will  accomplish  untold  good 
I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt;  that  they  will  be  a  guide  and 
help  to  many  a  preacher  as  he  projects  his  revival  services  I 
am  absolutely  sure ;  that  they  will  lead  countless  souls  to  Christ 
throughout  the  coming  years  I  confidently  hope.  As  I  have 
perus*ed  them  one  by  one  I  have  been  more  deepl}'-  impressed 
than  I  have  ever  been  impressed  by  the  reading  of  any  sermonic 
literature.  It  seems  to  me  that  no  soul  can  resist  the  power 
and  tenderness  of  their  touching  appeal.  May  God  bless  these 
sermons  as  He  blessed  the  great  preacher  In  their  delivery, 
and  may  His  enduring  grace  abound  to  everyone  who  shall 
read  them  throughout  all  the  coming  years ! 

J.  B.  Cranfill. 

Dallas,  Texas. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Page 

Foreword V 

I  vUnoffered  and  Unanswered  Prayer _ „ 1 

II    What  To  Do  With  Life's  Burdens 15 

III  Where  Is  Your  Faith  ? 27 

IV  wThe  Secret  of  a  Great  Life—. 45 

V    'A  Quest  For  Souls — 55 

VI    Why  Do  Souls  Go  Away  From  Jesus  ? 75 

VII    Preparation  for  Meeting  God__ — __ 87 

VIII  ^"A  Religion  That  is  Divine 105 

IX    The  Tragedy  of  Neglect —  117 

X    The  Cure  For  a  Troubled  Heart 138 

XI    The  Peril  of  Resisting  God.-. —  150 

XII    The  Deadly  Danger  of  Drifting —  170 

XIII  What  Should  We  Do  With  Jesus? ^  181 

XIV  The  Supreme  Offering  to  Christ..™ — 194 

XV    The  Doom  of  Delay>.^ — — .  206 

XVI  A  Conquering  Faith - —  226 

XVII  The  Confession  of  Sin — 239 

XVIII  The  Ministry  of  Suffering — 260 

XIX  How  To  Be  Saved .-. - -  273 

XX  How  May  We  Know  Jesus  Better  ? __  289 

XXI  Why  Are  You  Not  a  Christian  ? —  303 

XXn  A  Promise  For  Every  Day _.» 324 

XXIII  The  One  Sufficient  Refuge — —  338 

XXIV  The  Passing  of  Religious  Opportunity— 359 

vii 


A  QUEST   FOR  SOULS 


OPENING  SERVICE,  MONDAY  EVENING, 

JUNE  11,  1917.* 

UNOFFERED  AND  UNANSWERED  PRAYER. 

Text:    "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not.     Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because 
ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts." — James  4:2,  3. 

Before  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  I  would  be  allowed 
a  moment  in  which  to  express  my  grateful  joy  for  the 
privilege  of  spending  several  days,  the  Lord  willing,  in 
daily  special  meetings  in  this  city.  I  am  glad  thus  to  be 
the  guest  of  the  two  noble  churches,  the  Broadway  and 
College  Avenue  Churches,  and  to  be  associated  with  their 
cherished  and  nobly  capable  pastors,  Drs.  Smith  and  Ed- 
wards. Their  generous  words  of  w^elcome  very  deeply 
touch  my  heart. 

Just  one  concern  have  I  in  coming  for  this  brief  visit — 
if  I  know  my  own  heart — and  that  is  to  help  the  people, 
if  I  may  and  as  I  may,  and  so  to  witness  for  our  great, 
good  Master  as  shall  be  pleasing  in  His  sight.  I  am  not 
an  evangelist,  as  these  honored  fellow-pastors  have  already 
explained  to  you,  but  a  busy  pastor,  in  a  modern  city  like 
yours,  dealing  with  the  same  problems  as  those  with  which 
your  pastors  and  churches  are  constantly  dealing.  Right 
at  the  beginning  of  these  services,  I  would  cast  myself 
upon  your  most  prayerful  sympathy.     I  would  appeal  to 

•  All  of  the  evening  services  of  this  series  of  meetings  were  held  in  a  tent 
provided  by  the  Broadway  and  College  Avenue  Baptist  Churches,  and  all  of  the 
noon  services  were  held  in  the  Auditorium  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 


2  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

you  in  the  beseeching  words  of  the  apostle:  "I  beseech 
you,  brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for 
the  love  of  the  Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together  with  me,  in 
your  prayers  to  God  for  me."  Together,  let  us  continually 
look  to  God  for  His  guidance  and  blessing,  in  everything 
that  is  to  be  said  and  done  in  these  proposed  meetings. 
What  do  we  here  without  God's  light  and  leading?  Oh, 
may  the  Divine  Spirit  teach  us  and  empower  us,  at  every 
step,  as  we  address  ourselves  to  these  services !  And  He 
will,  if  only  our  hearts,  our  motives,  our  attitude  shall 
be  right  in  God's  sight  —  if  we  shall  be  humble  before 
Him,  and  shall  eschew  every  evil  way,  and  shall  desire 
above  all  else  to  know  and  to  do  Christ's  holy  will. 

Assembled  here  with  one   accord. 

Calmly  we  wait  thy  promised  grace. 
The   purchased    of   our   dying    Lord, 

Come,  Holy  Ghost,  and  fill  this  place. 

Let  us  deeply  ponder  these  sayings:  "Ye  shall  receive 
power,  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you:  and 
ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in 
all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of 
the  earth."  "Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my 
Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  "If  ye  then,  being  evil,^ 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
them  that  ask  Him."  Above  all  else,  and  without  ceasing, 
let  us  seek  the  guidance  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
both  in  the  public  services  and  in  the  private  efforts  that 
are  to  be  had,  in  everything  pertaining  to  these  meetings. 

You  are  now  ready,  I  trust,  to  give  reverent  heed  to 
the  reading  of  two  passages  from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
The  first  is  from  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Luke.  I  read 
from  the  first  to  the  fourteenth  verse : 

And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  as  He  was  praying  in  a  certain  place,  when  He 
ceased,  one  of  His  disciples  said  unto  Him,  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as  John 
also  taught  his  disciples.  And  He  said  unto  them,  When  ye  pray,  say,  Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy 
will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  in  earth.  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread. 
And  forgive  us  our  sins;  for  we  also  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted^  to  us. 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil.  And  He  said  unto 
them,  Which  of  you  shall  have  a.  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight,  and 
say  unto  him,  Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves ;  for  a  friend  of  mine  in  his  journey 
is  come  to  me  and  I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him?  And  he  from  within  shall 
answer  and  say.  Trouble  me  not:  the  door  is  now  shut,  and  my  children  are  with 
me  in  bed ;  I  cannot  rise  and  give  thee.  I  say  unto  you,  though  he  will  not  rise 
and  give  him,  because  he  is  his  friend,  yet  because  of  his  importunity  he 
will  rise  and  give  him  as  many  as  he  needeth.     And  I  say  unto  you,  Ask,  and 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  3 

it  shall  be  given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you ;  for  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth,  and  to  him 
that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened.  If  a  son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of  you  that  is 
a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone?  or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  will  he  for  a  fish  give  him 
a  serpent?  Or  if  he  shall  ask  an  egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion?  If  ye,  then, 
being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children :  how  much  more  shall 
your  Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him? 

The  second  passage  is  from  the  fifth  chapter  of  James, 
from  the  sixteenth  verse  to  the  end  of  the  chapter: 

Confess  your  faults  one  to  another,  and  pray  one  for  another,  that  ye  may 
be  healed.  The  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much.  Elias 
was  a  man  subject  to  like  passions  as  we  are,  and  he  prayed  earnestly  that  it 
might  not  rain :  and  it  rained  not  on  the  earth  by  the  space  of  three  years  and  six 
months.  And  he  prayed  again,  and  the  heaven  gave  rain,  and  the  earth  brought 
forth  her  fruit.  Brethren,  if  any  of  you  do  err  from  the  truth  and  one  convert 
him ;  let  him  know,  that  he  which  converteth  the  sinner  from  the  error  of  his 
way  shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall  hide  a  multitude  of  sins. 

In  casting  about  for  a  suitable  word  to  speak  at  the 
beginning  of  these  meetings,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  I^- 
could  bring  no  more  appropriate  and  important  word  than 
to  direct  your  attention  to  the  vital  suhject  of  prayer.  The 
text  for  the  message  this  evening  is  in  the  fourth  chapter 
of  James,  and  these  are  its  two  statements :  "Ye  have  not, 
because  ye  ask  not.  Ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because  ye 
ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts."  The 
text  says  two  things  very  pungently.  The  first  is  that  we 
do  not  pray  enough:  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not." 
The  second  is  an  explanation  for  unanswered  prayer: 
"Ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye 
may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts."  The  two  sentences 
challenge  our  attention  to  unoffered  prayer  and  unan- 
swered prayer.  Let  us  for  a  little  while  consider  the  teach- 
ing of  the  two  sentences. 

And  first,  we  do  not  pray  enough :  "Ye  have  not,  because 
ye  ask  not."  There  is  no  mistaking  the  meaning  of  this 
sentence.  It  plainly  tells  us:  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye 
ask  not."  We  talk  much  about  "unanswered"  prayer.  This 
sentence  reminds  us  of  unoflfered  prayer.  It  tells  us  that 
blessings  are  denied  us,  just  because  we  do  not  ask  for 
them. 

Let  me  ask  you  the  pointed,  personal  question:    How 
much  do  you  pray?    What  must  your  answer  be?     How 
much   have   you   prayed   to-day?     How   much    time   and 
thought  do  you  give  to  prayer?     How  real  and  vital  is  I 
prayer  in  your  daily  life?     Do  you  know  what  it  is,  like  ' 
Daniel,  to  have  fixed  times  and  places  for  prayer?     Do  '^ 


4  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

you  know  what  it  is  to  live  in  the  atmosphere  of  prayer, 
that  is,  to  carry  out  the  Bible  injunction  to  us,  to  "pray 
without  ceasing?"  Is  it  not  just  at  this  point  that  we  fail, 
and  fail  more  hurtfully  than  at  any  other  point?  I  make 
bold  to  say  that  just  at  this  point,  preachers  are  prone  to 
fail,  as  perhaps  at  no  other  point.  A  little  while  ago,  I 
was  with  a  group  of  preachers  one  day,  as  they  discussed 
the  perils  and  problems  of  the  preacher.  This  man  and 
that  suggested  this  peril  and  that,  concerning  which  the 
preacher  needs  ever  to  be  on  his  guard.  When  it  came 
my  time  to  question  the  group  of  fellow-preachers,  this 
was  my  question:  "How  much  do  you  pray?"  I  may  add 
that  every  man  of  us  in  that  group  felt  conscience-stricken, 
as  we  searched  our  hearts  on  that  question.  We  saw  that 
we  were  busy  here  and  there,  finding  texts,  making  ser- 
mons, arranging  for  funerals,  for  committees,  for  visits,  for 
interviews,  for  exacting  and  endless  tasks,  but  not  a  man 
of  us  had  made  enough  of  prayer.  What  is  your  answer, 
oh,  fellow-Christian,  to  the  question :  "How  much  do  you 
pray?"  Think  again  and  deeply  of  these  words  of  Jesus: 
"But  thou,  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and 
when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which 
is  in  secret;  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall 
reward  thee  openly."  Do  you  have  the  daily  habit  of  secret 
prayer?  You  cannot  afford  to  neglect  such  habit.  Such 
neglect  cannot  be  atoned  for,  whatever  else  you  may  say 
or  do.  I  press  the  question  upon  every  Christian  before 
me — has  "the  closet  with  the  closed  door"  been  neglected? 
That  closet  with  the  closed  door  is  the  trysting  place  of 
power.  The  men  and  women  who  go  in  there  come  out 
with  faces  that  shine,  with  visions  that  inspire,  and  with 
power  that  shakes  the  world.  Keep  the  path  worn  to  that 
closet  with  the  closed  door,  I  pray  you.  It  will  give  you 
to  know  that  you  are  not  alone,  but  that  a  Divine  Presence 
goes  before  you  and  with  you. 

Tn  view  of  the  mighty  significance  of  prayer,  every- 
where set  out  in  the  Bible,  is  it  not  indeed  amazing  that 
we  do  not  pray  more  ?  Like  a  golden  thread,  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  may  be  seen  all  through  God^s  blessed  Book.  God's 
cry  to  mankind  is  for  them  to  call  unto  Him,  and  He  will 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  5 

answer  them,  and  He  will  show  them  great  and  mighty^ 
things  which  they  do  not  know.  Listen  to  this  exhortation 
from  the  Apostle  James:  "If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom" — ■ 
surely  that  is  what  we  all  do  sorely  lack — *'let  him  ask  of 
God,  that  giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraideth  not, 
and  it  shall  be  given  him.  But  let  him  ask  in  faith,  noth- 
ing wavering.  For  he  that  wavereth  is  like  a  wave  of  the 
sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed."  And  listen  to  this 
exhortation  from  Jesus:  "And  I  say  unto  you.  Ask,  and 
it  shall  be  given  you;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and 
it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every  one  that  asketh, 
receiveth;  and  he  that  seeketh,  findeth;  and  to  him  that 
knocketh,  it  shall  be  opened."  Then,  Jesus  goes  on  to 
make  an  argument  for  prayer  that  is  irresistibly  appealing. 
Note  His  words :  "If  a  son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of  you 
that  is  a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone?  Or  if  he  ask  a 
fish,  will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent?  Or  if  he  shall 
ask  an  egg,  will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion?  If  ye  then,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him?" 

It  is  needful  for  us  to  remember  that  prayer  is  far  more 
than  a  privilege.  To  be  sure,  it  is  that — a  privilege  price- 
less, a  privilege  incomparable,  one  of  the  highest  privi- 
leges that  shall  ever  be  allowed  us.  But  it  is  far  more  than 
a  privilege — it  is  a  bounden  obligation,  it  is  an  inescapable 
duty.  See  how  Jesus  puts  it :  "Men  ought  always  to  pray, 
and  not  to  faint."  Mark  that  word  "ought."  That  means 
duty,  that  means  obligation.  Neglect  of  prayer  is  neglect 
of  duty — a  duty  of  measureless  importance.  Prayer  brings  ; 
results.  Prayer  wins  victories.  Prayer  achieves.  Thus  j 
does  Paul  put  it:  "Ye  also  helping  together  by  pray_er  ^ 
for  us."  A  way  whereby  we  may  help  everybody,  and 
perhaps  the  best  way,  is  to  pray  for  them.  Thus  may  we 
help  people  at  any  time  and  at  all  times.  It  is  no  wonder 
therefore  that  Paul  said:  "I  exhort  therefore,  that,  first  of 
all,  supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving  of 
thanks,  be  made  for  all  men."  It  is,  indeed,  a  culpable 
matter  if  we  neglect  to  pray  for  the  people,  for  all  of  them, 
for  any  of  them.    And  therefore,  are  the  words  of  the  old 


6  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

prophet  Samuel  always  pertinent:  "Moreover,  as  for  me, 
God  forbid  that  I  should  sin  against  the  Lord  in  ceasing 
to  pray  for  you."  Do  not,  I  pray  you,  deal  with  this  great 
question  of  prayer  as  wicked  men  dealt  with  it  in  Job's 
day.  They  asked  contemptuously:  "What  profit  should 
we  have  if  we  pray  unto  Him?"  If  such  question  is  yours, 
face  it  frankly,  probe  it  deeply;  stop  not  your  questioning 
until  you  are  assured  as  to  the  efficacy  that  there  is  in 
prayer.  There  is  profit  in  prayer.  It  is  worth  while  to 
call  on  God.  If  some  one  suggests  to  you  that  prayer  is 
irrational,  in  that  it  suggests  interference  with  law,  it  is 
enough  to  know  that  God  is  above  law,  that  law  is  His 
tool,  that  God's  reserves  of  wisdom  and  power  and  mercy 
and  love  are  utterly  beyond  our  measuring.  Prayer  is 
not  only  to  the  last  degree  reasonable,  but  our  very  nature 
demands  it.     It  was  not  strange  that  a  very  wicked  man 

\J   said  to  me,  when  his  child  lay  ill  at  death's  door:     "Oh, 

^  man,  if  you  know  how  to  pray,  for  God's  sake,  pray  for  my 

child!"     Yes,  prayer  is  reasonable  and  necessary,  and  it 

is  both  a  privilege  and  a  duty  of  measureless  moment  in 

the  earthly  life. 

^  Much  is  heard  these  days  on  the  subject  of  conserva- 

'»  tion.  The  doctrine  of  waste  is  being  everywhere  repro- 
bated. The  doctrine  of  conservation  is  being  everywhere 
emphasized.  We  are  being  told,  and  properly  so,  that  our 
waters  must  be  preserved  against  the  times  of  drouth.  We 
are  properly  exhorted  to  remember  that  not  one  tree  or 
bush  should  be  cut  down  without  a  good  reason.  It  is 
urged  that  even  the  by-products  everywhere  shall  be  saved. 
And  just  now  the  whole  land  rings  with  the  doctrine  of 
/  the  conservation  of  all  foods,  that  the  world  crisis  through 
which  we  are  passing  may  be  worthily  met  by  all  the  peo- 
ple. Let  this  doctrine  of  conservation  be  applied  in  the 
realm  of  prayer.  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not."  How 
different  things  might  have  been  if  we  had  prayed  more! 
Take  this  incident:  A  young  man  in  a  certain  city  com- 
mitted a  crime  that  broke  his  parents'  hearts  and  will  give 
them  sorrow  to  their  grave.  A  pastor  in  that  community 
went  at  once  to  see  the  parents,  when  he  knew  of  their 
poignant   sorrow.     As  best  he  could,  he   counselled   and 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  7 

comforted  them.  At  last  the  sorrowing  mother  said :  "Oh, 
sir,  if  I  had  prayed  as  I  ought,  this  tragedy  would  not 
have  been!"  The  pastor  begged  her  not  thus  to  upbraid 
herself,  for  her  sorrow  was  deep  enough  without  such 
added  self-reproaches.  But  the  mother  protested :  "I  used 
to  pray  every  morning,  noon  and  night,  for  this  boy,  but 
that  was  in  the  other  years.  In  recent  years,  my  feet 
have  been  caught  in  the  meshes  of  worldliness,  and 
the  things  of  religion  have  been  given  no  practical  place 
in  my  life.  I  have  forsaken  the  church  and  neglected 
to  pray.  Oh,  sir,  I  am  to  blame  for  my  boy's  down- 
fall! It  would  not  have  come  if  I  had  remembered  to  be 
faithful  in  prayer."  Will  you  say  that  she  did  not  speak 
the  truth?  Oh,  how  different  things  might  have  been  if 
we  had  prayed  as  we  ought!  "One  of  my  keenest  re- 
grets," said  one  of  our  noblest  preachers  as  he  lay  dying, 
"is  that  I  have  not  prayed  more."  And  when  another  of 
our  mightiest  preachers  was  told  that  he  had  but  one 
remaining  hour  on  earth  to  live,  he  said:  "Let  me  spend 
that  hour  in  prayer."  Oh,  let  us  pray  more !  Let  us  pray 
more!  "The  effectual,  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much."  Trace  that  truth  in  the  case  of  Elijah. 
Prayer  is  probably  the  highest,  creative  function  in  a  hu- 
man life.  Tennyson  was  right  when  he  said  that  more 
things  are  wrought  by  prayer  than  this  world  ever  dreams. 
Let  us  pray  more!  Prayer  is  the  first  agency  we  are  to 
employ  for  the  promotion  of  any  spiritual  undertaking. 
Prayer  links  us  with  God.  "Without  me,  ye  can  do  noth- 
ing." "I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strengthen- 
eth  me."  Prayer  breaks  down  difficulties.  It  opens  fast- 
closed  doors.  It  calls  forth  workers :  "Pray  ye,  therefore, 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  He  will  send  forth  laborers 
into  His  harvest."  It  releases  energies  for  the  spread  of 
Christ's  kingdom  and  truth,  beyond  anything  any  of  us 
can  ever  measure.  It  brings  victory  in  hours  of  crisis.  It 
gives  power  to  the  preached  gospel.  All  this  was  illus- 
trated in  the  lives  of  Abraham,  and  Elijah,  and  Hezekiah, 
and  Samuel,  and  David,  and  Paul,  and  Livingstone,  and 
Luther,  and  a  host  of  other  heroes  of  faith,  all  of  them 
overcoming  by  believing  prayer.     Oh,  let  us  pray  more! 


8  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

The  world  is  in  supreme  need  of  intercessory  prayer. 
Surely,  that  is  awfully  true  in  this  hour  of  world  crisis. 
Every  hour  now  is  big  with  destiny.  On  every  side  the 
people  are  trembling  as  they  think  of  what  shall  be  on 
the  morrow,  and  their  hearts  are  failing  and  ready  to 
faint.  Let  us  pray  more!  There  is  no  voice  to  satisfy 
but  the  voice  of  God.  That  noble  prophet  of  God,  Dr. 
Charles  E.  Jefferson,  spoke  faithfully,  a  little  while  ago, 
when  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  America,  "we 
have  suffered  a  heart-breaking  disillusionment.  We  ex- 
pected great  things  from  liberty  and  education,  and  have 
found  they  are  broken  reeds.  Neither  our  wealth  nor  our 
science  has  given  us  either  peace  or  joy.  The  four  wiz- 
ards— liberty  and  education  and  wealth  and  science — have 
performed  their  mightiest  miracles  under  our  flag;  but 
they  cannot  do  the  one  thing  essential;  they  cannot  keep 
the  conscience  quick,  or  the  soul  alive  to  God.  Our  sins 
are  as  scarlet  and  our  vices  are  red  like  crimson,  and  we 
need  prophets  to  turn  the  nation  to  the  God  who  will 
abundantly  pardon."  Oh,  let  us  pray  more !  Let  us  seek 
to-day,  and  every  day,  to  help  all  the  people  by  prayer. 
"Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not." 

Your  earnest  attention  is  now  directed  to  the  second 
sentence  in  the  text:  "Ye  ask  and  do  not  receive,  because 
ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts," 
or  pleasures.  In  that  one  sentence  is  one  clear  explanation 
why  prayer  is  often  unanswered.  It  proceeds  from  a  wrong 
motive.  "Ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask  amiss, 
that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  pleasures."  The  point 
is  plain — the  motive  is  wrong.  God  looks  ever  for  the 
motive,  in  all  our  thoughts  and  prayers  and  deeds.  He 
does  not  see  as  man  sees.  Man  looks  on  the  outward  ap- 
pearance. God  looks  on  the  heart.  The  motive  ox^^n- 
izes  everything  in  life.  If  the  motive  in  prayer  be  wrong, 
*t!Ten  the  reason  why  the  prayer  is  not  answered  is  at  once 
explained.  What  is  your  motive  when  you  ask  God  for 
this  or  that?  I  press  that  question  upon  every  life  before 
me. 

A  A\Tong  spirit  toward  others  is  also  an  explanation  for 
unanswered  prayer.    I  pause  a  moment,  to  press  this  point 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  9 

upon  your  every  conscience.  I  have  come  to  the  end  of 
twenty-four  years  as  a  pastor,  and  through  all  these  years 
I  have  increasingly  seen  how  men  and  women  are  hin- 
dered in  their  religious  lives,  in  their  praying,  in  every 
good  way,  by  a  wrong  spirit  toward  others.  In  that  model 
prayer  which  Jesus  gives  for  the  guidance  of  His  disciples, 
that  same  point  of  our  relations  toward  our  fellows  is  mag- 
nified :  'Torgive  us  our  sins,  as  we  forgive — as  we  have  " 
already  forgiven — those  who  have  sinned  against  us."  Are, 
you  wrong  in  your  spirit  toward  others?  Do  you  have 
malice,  ill  will,  resentment,  unforgiveness  in  your  heart 
toward  others?  If  so,  your  unanswered  prayers  are  at 
once  explained.  One  said  to  me,  after  an  extended  conver- 
sation :  "Why  cannot  I  get  right  with  God  ?"  He  had  once 
been  a  joyful,  victorious  Christian,  but  now  he  was  un- 
happy, and  shorn  of  his  spiritual  power,  and  prayer  was 
no  longer  a  blessed  experience  with  him.  *'Why  cannot 
I  get  right  v/ith  God?"  he  plaintively  asked.  Before  the 
conversation  was  ended,  he  dropped  one  sentence  that  in- 
dicated the  depth  of  his  ill  will  toward  another.  The 
reason  why  he  was  not  right  with  God  was  at  once  made 
plain.  Our  lives  are  most  intimately  bound  up  with  the 
lives  of  our  fellows.  Our  relations  to  our  fellows  cannot 
be  escaped,  cannot  be  ignored.  When  we  pray  for  our 
daily  bread,  we  are  to  include  our  fellows:  *'Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread."  If  we  are  wrong  in  our  hearts  to- 
vv'ard  our  fellows,  we  need  not  expect  an  answer  to  our 
prayers.  How  searching  are  these  words  of  Jesus :  "And  j 
when  ye  stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have  aught  against 
any:  that  your  Father  also  who  is  in  heaven  may  forgive 
you  your  trespasses.  But  if  ye  do  not  forgive,  neither  will 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  forgive  your  trespasses/* 

Still  again,  unanswered  prayer  may  be  explained  by  a 
wrong  life.  The  psalmist  said:  "If  I  regard  iniquity  in  , 
my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear  me."  Indeed,  He  cannot 
afford  to  answer  our  prayers  if  we  willingly  harbor  sin 
in  our  lives,  if  we  regard  it,  if  we  coddle  and  pamper  it. 
That  would  be  to  compromise  God.  The  one  thing  that 
separates  between  God  and  us  is  sin.  He  himself  so  tells 
us.     The  one  thing  which  God  hates  is  sin.     Our  attitude 


la  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

toward  sin  must  be  in  harmony  with  His  attitude.  It  is 
'.the  prayer  of  a  righteous  man — not  an  unrighteous  man — 
that  avails  much.  The  Bible  teaches  us  that  we  may  ex- 
pect Him  to  hear  and  answer  our  prayers  when  we  keep 
His  commandments  and  do  those  things  that  are  pleasing 
in  His  sight.  Is  your  life  right  in  God's  sight?  Are  you 
right  before  Him  in  the  secrecy  of  your  own  heart?  If 
you  are  pampering  some  wrong  thing  in  your  life,  although 
others  may  not  know  of  it,  yet  in  such  fact  you  have  the 
explanation  for  your  unanswered  prayers.  Listen  to  these 
words  of  the  psalmist :  ''Delight  thyself  also  in  the  Lord ; 
and  He  shall  give  thee  the  desires  of  thine  heart."  You 
will  not  miss  the  point — your  delight  is  to  be  in  the  Lord. 
Listen  to  these  words  from  Jesus:  "If  ye  abide  in  me, 
and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will, 
and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."  Face  faithfully  the  ques- 
tion asked  in  the  simple  song,  "Is  thy  heart  right  with 
God  ?"  and  know,  if  it  is  not,  you  have  af  hand  an  explana- 
tion for  unanswered  prayer. 

Lack  of  earnestness  may  be  the  explanation  for  unan- 
swered prayer.  If  we  dawdle  and  sleep  and  dream  over 
our  prayers,  certainly  we  may  not  hope  that  they  shall  be 
answered.  The  men  of  the  Bible  who  prayed  acceptably 
and  victoriously  were  earnest  men.  Listen  to  Moses,  the 
valiant  leader  of  Israel,  as  he  prayed  for  that  neglecting, 
backslidden,  disobedient  people:  "Oh,  this  people  have 
sinned  a  great  sin,  and  have  made  them  gods  of  gold.  Yet 
now,  if  thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin — ;  and  if  not,  blot  me, 
I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book  which  thou  hast  written."  Oh, 
how  terribly  in  earnest  was  Moses,  as  thus  he  prayed.  He 
was,  indeed,  a  very  Hercules  in  prayer.  And  take  the  case 
of  Paul.  Listen  to  his  pleadings:  "I  say  the  truth  in 
Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  also  bearing  me  witness 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  I  have  great  heaviness  and  con- 
tinual sorrow  in  my  heart,  for  I  could  wish  that  myself 
were  accursed  from  Christ,  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen 
according  to  the  flesh."  When  a  man  feels  like  that,  is 
willing  to  be  accursed  from  Christ,  that  the  people  about 
him  may  be  saved,  is  it  any  wonder  that  such  man  scaled 
the  heavenlies  when  he  prayed?     Listen  to  Jacob  at  the 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  11 

brook  Jabbok,  as  he  pleads:  "I  will  not  let  thee  go,  ex- 
cept thou  bless  me."  It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  a  little 
later,  Jacob  is  told ;  *Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more 
Jacob,  but  Israel :  for  as  a  prince  hast  thou  power  with 
God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed."  Listen  to  John 
Knox,  as  he  prays  for  Scotland :  "Oh,  God,  give  me  Scot- 
land, or  I  die !"  Is  it  any  wonder  that  hapless  Queen  Mary 
said:  "I  fear  the  prayers  of  John  Knox  more  than  I  fear 
an  army  of  ten  thousand  men."  Oh,  my  fellow-Christians, 
let  us  be  deeply  in  earnest  when  we  come  to  the  throne 
of  grace  to  make  known  our  requests  unto  God. 

Once  again,  our  prayers  are  often  not  answered,  be- 
cause we  do  not  expect  them  to  be — because  of  a  lack  of 
faith.  Faith  is  just  taking  God  at  His  word.  Often  we 
do  not  take  Him  at  His  word.  We  halt  and  higgle  over 
His  word,  and  we  refuse  to  accept  it  and  to  act  upon  it. 
Jesus  pointedly  says  to  us:  "According  to  your  faith,  so 
be  it  unto  you."  And  again:  "If  thou  canst  believe,  all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth."  And  again :  "If 
two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth,  as  touching  anything  that 
they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."  What  a  marvelous  statement  that  is! 
How  it  challenges  us  to  be  united  in  prayer!  Do  we  be- 
lieve this  great  promise?  Will  we  plead  it  in  prayer,  and 
claim  it? 

Years  ago,  when  I  was  preaching  for  several  days  in 
a  Southern  city,  I  preached  one  morning  on  the  text:  "But 
without  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please  Him:  for  he  that 
cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  a 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him."  At  the  close 
of  the  service,  an  elderly  woman — I  should  say  she  was 
three  score  and  ten  years  of  age  —  rose  up  and  said: 
"Preacher,  do  you  believe  what  you  have  preached  to- 
day?" And  I  replied:  "Indeed,  I  do,  for  I  have  proclaimed 
God's  Word,  which  Word  I  surely  believe."  "Very  well," 
she  said,  "I  am  so  glad  that  you  believe  it.  I  am  looking 
for  some  one  who  believes  it.  You  quoted  in  your  sermon, 
just  now,  that  glorious  promise  from  Jesus:  'If  two  of 
you  shall  agree  on  earth,  as  touching  anything  that  they 
shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father  who  is 


12  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

in  heaven' — do  you  believe  that  promise,  and  will  you 
plead  it  -with  me?''  Before  I  answered,  she  spoke  again: 
"It  is  like  this:  My  husband  is,  and  has  long  been,  a 
captain  on  the  boat  that  sails  the  river.  He  never  goes 
to  church,  and  is  exceedingly  wicked,  and  now  he  is  grow- 
ing old.  If  you  will  join  me  in  pleading  that  promise  about 
two  agreeing,  we  will  claim  him  for  God  and  salvation  and 
heaven — will  you  join  me?"  And  there  I  stood,  thinking, 
wondering,  searching  my  heart.  Did  I  really  believe  that 
promise?  AVas  I  willing  to  plead  it  then  and  there,  in  the 
case  just  named?  And  while  I  stood  thus  thinking  and 
hesitating,  a  plainly  dressed  man,  a  blacksmith,  rose  up 
and  said:  ''Auntie,  I  will  join  you  in  pleading  that  prom- 
ise." And  there,  before  us  all,  he  walked  over  to  her  and 
humbly  said:  **Let  us  plead  it  now."  They  knelt  in  pray- 
er, and  he  began  to  pray.  It  was  as  simple  as  a  little  child 
talking  to  its  mother.  He  reminded  the  good  Savior  of 
the  promise  He  had  made,  and  insisted  that  they  twain, 
there  kneeling,  accepted  that  promise,  claimed  it,  pleaded 
it  as  they  asked  Him  to  save  the  aged,  sinful  sailor.  It 
was  all  over  in  a  few  moments.  The  simplicity  and  the 
pathos  of  it  were  indescribable.  The  people  were  dis- 
missed. The  day  passed  and  the  people  gathered  for  the 
evening  service.  The  preacher  stood  up  to  preach,  and 
there  before  him  came  the  old  lady  just  described,  and 
with  her  came  a  white-haired  old  man.  At  the  close  of 
the  sermon,  the  preacher  asked  those  who  desired  to  be 
Christians  to  come  to  the  front  pews  for  counsel  and 
prayer,  while  the  people  sang.  The  old  man  was  on  his 
feet  immediately,  and  was  coming  toward  the  front.  He 
was  talked  with  and  prayed  for  that  night,  but  all  seemed 
utter  darkness  to  him.  Over  there,  to  the  right  and  the 
left,  sat  the  aged  wife  and  the  middle-aged  blacksmith, 
with  faces  shining  like  the  morning.  They  had  a  secret 
the  rest  of  us  did  not  have.  They  had  pleaded  and  were 
claiming  the  promise  of  Jesus,  and  their  hearts  knew  that 
all  was  well.  The  night  service  was  ended,  and  the  people 
went  their  ways.  The  old  man  shambled  out  into  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  his  soul  darker  even  than  the  night.  The 
next  morning  came,  and  the  people  were  gathering  for  the 


A  SERMON  ON  PRAYER  13 

service.  The  preacher  was  alone  in  the  study,  behind  the 
pulpit,  trying  to  make  ready  for  the  service.  There  was 
a  knock  on  the  outer  door  of  the  study.  The  door  was 
opened,  and  there  stood  the  old  man.  And  thus  he  began : 
"Sir,  I  can't  wait  for  your  sermon  this  morning.  Tell  me 
now,  if  you  know,  how  I  can  be  saved."  And  there  in  that 
study,  before  the  service,  he  accepted  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  his  Savior,  and  at  the  morning  service,  an  hour 
later,  gave  a  testimony  for  Christ,  the  sweetness  and  glory 
of  which  will  outlast  the  stars.  What  is  there  remarkable 
about  this?  Nothing  at  all,  when  you  remember  that  two 
friends  of  Jesus,  honestly  and  actually  pleaded  and  claimed 
the  promise  of  Jesus. 

Oh,  why  is  that  we  halt  in  the  acceptance  of  the  sure 
promises  of  our  dear  Savior?  Why  are  we  so  fearful  and 
the  possessors  of  such  feeble  faith?  May  God  forgive  us, 
even  to-night  and  now,  for  our  pitiful,  miserable  unbelief ! 

This  other  word,  I  would  briefly  say,  in  explantion  of 
unanswered  prayer — and  that  is,  our  prayers  are  often  un- 
answered because  they  lack  submission  to  the  will  of  God. 
"Thy  will  be  done,"  must  be  in  every  acceptable,  victo- 
rious prayer.  His  will  is  always  righteous  and  best,  and 
we  are  to  be  in  harmony  with  that  will.  Above  all  else, 
let  us  seek  to  know  God's  will,  and  ever  let  us  pray :  "Nev- 
ertheless, not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done." 

Long  enough  have  I  spoken  to  you.  Let  us  take  the 
two  thoughts  of  the  text,  and  hide  them  in  our  hearts. 
Let  us  pray  more,  oh,  let  us  pray  more!  To  the  last  de- 
gree possible,  let  us  be  worthy  intercessors,  seeking  thus 
to  help  continually  our  needy,  sinning,  suffering  world. 
Let  us  pray  more !  "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not."  And 
let  us  seek  ever  to  pray  in  that  way,  and  with  that  motive 
and  spirit,  that  shall  be  well  pleasing  in  God's  sight.  Lord, 
teach  us  to  pray!  And  may  all  the  services  of  this  pro- 
posed series  of  meetings  be  enveloped  in  humble,  consist- 
ent, believing,  victorious  prayer.  Let  me  give  you  a  prom- 
ise that  tells  us  how  this  meeting  may  be  made  glorious. 
It  is  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  II  Chronicles:  "If  my 
people,  who  are  called  by  my  name,  shall  humble  them- 
selves, and  pray,  and  seek  my  face,  and  turn  from  their 


14  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

wicked  ways;  then  will  I  hear  from  heaven,  and  will  for- 
give their  sin,  and  will  heal  their  land."  Again  and  again, 
let  us  cry,  "Lord,  teach  us  to  pray!" 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

Our  holy,  Heavenly  Father,  teach  us  to  pray.  Little  do  we  know  of  thig 
blessed,  glorious  privilege  and  duty,  and  poor  has  been  our  behavior  with  refer- 
ence to  prayer.  Forgive  us,  we  pray  thee,  for  our  neglect,  our  ignorance,  and 
our  disobedience.  Summon  us  to  prayer,  O  our  God,  and  let  us  refuse  to  be  dis- 
mayed,  whatever  our  difficulties  and  experiences,  since  God  delights  to  hear  and 
answer  prayer.  Give  us  much  of  thy  grace  and  light,  that  we  may  know  how 
to  pray  as  we  should.  And  in  all  the  services  of  these  proposed  meetings,  go 
thou  with  us,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  and  so  give  us  thy  counsel  and  power,  that 
we  shall  wholly  do  thy  will  in  all  the  important  days  that  are  just  before  us. 
We  ask  it  in  Jesus'  name.    Amen. 


II 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  12,  1917. 
WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS. 

Text:  "For  every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden."  »  *  *  "Bear  ye  one 
another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  *  *  *  "Cast  thy  burden  upon 
the  Lord,  and  He  shall  sustain  thee."-— GaL  6:5;    6:2;    Psa.  55:22. 

Distinct  pleasure  is  in  my  heart  that  I  am  allowed  to 
greet  the  busy  men  and  women  before  me  for  this  brief 
midday  service.  As  has  already  been  announced,  these 
midday  services  are  to  be  begun  exactly  at  twelve  o'clock, 
and  are  to  be  closed  at  ten  minutes  before  one  o'clock.  The 
one  design  of  these  services  is  to  help  the  busy  men  and 
women  in  the  heart  of  the  city  at  the  noonday  hour  by 
calling  their  attention  daily  to  those  simple,  vital  things 
which  make  for  our  highest  good. 

In  coming  to  speak  at  this  first  midday  service,  it  has 
seemed  to  me  that  I  could  bring  no  more  practical  word 
than  to  talk  to  you  about  Life's  Burdens.  It  is  the  lot  of 
men  and  women  everywhere  to  have  burdens.  There  is  an 
old  Spanish  proverb  which  points  a  familiar  lesson:  "No 
home  is  there  anywhere  that  does  not  sooner  or  later  have 
its  hush."  The  proverb  points  its  own  lesson.  You  cannot 
mistake  it.  Sooner  or  later  all  men  and  women  have  their 
burdens. 

Many  of  the  burdens  of  men  and  women  may  be  seen. 
The  deepest  and  most  poignant  burdens  are  not  seen.  If 
we  knew  what  fierce  battles  some  men  and  women  were 
fighting,  and  what  weighty  burdens  they  were  carrying,  it 
v^ould  teach  us  lessons  of  restraint  and  charity  and  content- 

15 


16  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ment  beyond  any  that  we  have  ever  known.  That  very 
fact  should  give  us  pause  and  caution,  even  to  a  marked 
degree. 

The  Bible  has  three  words  to  say  about  our  burdens. 
Notice  them:  "Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burden." 
"Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  thus  fulfill  the  law  of 
Christ."  "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  He  shall 
sustain  thee."  That  is  all  that  the  Bible  says  about  our 
burdens,  but  those  three  sentences  say  all  that  is  to  be  said. 

Now,  for  a  little  while,  let  us  glance  at  what  the  Bible 
says  in  its  threefold  message  about  our  burdens.  First, 
our  burdens  are  non-transferable:  "Every  man  shall  bear 
his  own  burden."  Every  life  is  isolated  and  separated  and 
segregated  from  every  other  life.  To  a  remarkable  degree 
every  life  is  lived  alone.  You  were  born  into  the  world 
alone,  and  when  you  shall  leave  it,  no  matter  where  or  how, 
you  shall  go  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  alone,  and  be- 
tween your  birth  and  your  death,  the  cradle  and  the  grave, 
life  is  very  largely  lived  alone.  No  man  can  perform  your 
duty  for  you.  "To  every  man  his  work,"  the  Master  teaches 
us.  Not  "to  every  man  a  work,"  nor  "to  every  man  some 
work,"  but  "to  every  man  his  work."  There  is  a  program 
for  you  to  carry  out.  There  is  a  niche  for  you  to  fill.  There 
is  a  task  for  you  to  face.  There  is  a  life  for  you  to  live, 
separated  from  every  other  in  all  the  world.  Nobody  can 
repent  of  sin  for  you,  nor  can  anybody  believe  on  Christ 
for  you,  nor  can  any  one  make  answer  at  the  judgment  bar 
of  God  for  you.  We  must  every  one  give  an  account  of 
himself  to  God. 

And  that  means  that  nobody  is  to  get  lost  in  the  crowd. 
There  is  to  be  no  hiding  behind  others,  or  behind  organi- 
zations. Is  there  any  danger  more  outstanding,  in  these 
modern  times,  than  the  danger  that  the  individual  shall  get 
lost  in  the  crowd?  God  sees  the  individual,  and  the  indi- 
vidual must  never  get  lost  in  the  crowd.  His  eye  is  upon 
the  one,  and  the  one  is  to  see  to  it,  whatever  others  may 
or  may  not  do,  that  he  or  she  walks  that  path  before  the 
face  of  God  that  shall  have  the  favor  of  God.  Whether 
anybody  else  does  right  or  not,  you  must.     Whether  any- 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS       17 

body  else  is  true  or  not,  you  must  be.  Did  you  ever  read 
the  diary  of  Jonathan  Edwards?  If  so,  you  must  have  been 
greatly  impressed  with  his  words — I  do  not  attempt  to 
quote  them  verbally — where  he  penned  these  two  resolu- 
tions: "Resolved,  first,  that  every  man  should  do  right, 
whatever  it  costs.  Resolved,  secondly,  whether  any  other 
man  does  right  or  not,  I  will,  so  help  me  God."  That  is 
the  supreme  business  of  every  human  being,  for  "every  one 
shall  bear  his  own  burden." 

And  then  the  Bible  points  a  second  great  word  for  us 
concerning  our  burdens :  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens, 
and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ,"  which  means  that  our  bur- 
dens are  ofttimes  community  burdens,  social  burdens,  bur- 
dens to  be  shared  with  others.  Others  are  to  share  their 
burdens  with  us.  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  thus 
fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  It  is  always  interesting  andl 
proper  to  note  words  of  Scripture  in  their  setting.  Many 
of  the  fads  and  fancies  and  hurtful  heresies  in  the  world 
have  come  because  the  Scriptures  have  been  wrested  from 
their  proper  setting.  We  need  always  to  look  at  the  Scrip- 
tures in  their  setting,  and  let  the  Scriptures  say  what  theyl 
meant  to  say,  and  mean  what  they  are  designed  to  mean/) 
Here  in  this  Scripture,  where  we  are  told  to  bear  one  an- 
other's burdens,  immediately  preceding  it,  a  great  verse 
stands  out  for  our  best  consideration.  Note  it :  "Brethren, 
if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  who  are  spiritual  restore 
such  a  one,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thyself, 
lest  thou  also  be  tempted."  Bear  ye,  in  this  way,  one  an- 
other's burdens,  the  apostle  is  saying,  and  so  fulfill  the  law 
of  Christ. 

The  primary  reference  there  to  this  great  matter  of 
mutual  burden  bearing  is  to  the  fact  that  we  should  seek 
to  help  those  about  us  who  have  gone  astray.  And  just 
here  is  the  most  neglected  task  of  all.  Here  are  we  plainly 
summoned  to  go  out  and  give  ourselves,  without  stint  or 
reserve,  to  recover  men  and  women  who  are  going  wrong. 
"If  any  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,"  help  him.  Criticise 
him?  Denounce  him?  Throw  stones  at  him?  Talk  about 
him?     Nay,  verily.     "If  any  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault. 


IB  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ye  who  are  spiritual,  restore  such  a  one  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness,  considering  thyself,  lest  thou  also  be  tempted/* 

Even  as  I  call  your  attention  to  this  point  of  mutual 
burden  bearing,  especially  with  regard  to  those  that  have 
got  out  of  the  right  path  and  are  going  the  wrong  path, 
your  minds  are  now  alertly  busy,  and  you  call  to  your  re- 
membrance certain  men  and  women  who  once  began  well, 
but  who  have  been  bewitched  away  by  some  infli^ence  from 
the  right  path  and  are  going  the  wrong  path^Go  after 
those,  to  help  them.  That  is  what  our  Scripture  says. 
Just  there,  my  fellow-men,  is  the  most  neglected  task  of 
all.  When  men  go  astray  and  keep  going  astray,  we  are 
all  too  willing,  too  content,  to  allow  them  to  go  on,  whereas 
we  are  summoned  here,  by  this  Scripture,  and  by  the  whole 
message  of  the  gospel  of  grace,  to  go  out  and  seek  to  re- 
claim, to  recover,  to  restore,  everybody  that  is  going  wrong. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  young  fellow  gloriously  con- 
verted in  my  city  some  time  ago,  who  beforehand  had  had 
the  miserable  habit  of  swearing — an  inexcusable  habit, 
without  any  defense  at  all  for  any  man — and  yet  that  habit 
had  such  a  hold  upon  him  that  it  seemed  second  nature  to 
him  to  swear.  By  and  by  he  was  graciously  converted 
under  the  call  of  Christ,  and  then  he  talked  with  the  minis- 
ter, and  said:  "I  think  I  had  better  wait  for  six  months 
or  twelve,  until  I  can  prove  to  myself  clearly  whether  I 
can  keep  from  swearing,  before  I  shall  join  the  church." 
But  the  minister  said  to  him :  "Not  at  all.  The  church  is 
not  an  aggregation  of  perfect  people.  No  one  is  perfect. 
We  are  all  sinners,  saved  by  grace.  You  come  right  on, 
if  you  have  put  your  trust  in  Christ  as  your  personal 
Savior,  and  take  your  place  in  the  army  of  God,  with  the 
rest  of  the  soldiers,  and  help  them,  and  let  them  help  you." 
And  so  he  did,  and  for  months  there  was  a  devotion  about 
him  to  Christ's  cause  that,  to  the  last  degree,  cheered  all 
our  hearts.  But  after  some  months  the  minister  missed 
him  from  the  midweeic  prayer-meeting,  and  even  from  the 
Sunday  services,  and  he  said  to  his  men:  "Where  is 
Charles?"  And  they  said:  "Haven't  you  heard?"  The 
minister  said:  "Not  at  all.  What  has  happened?"  And 
they  said:     "Charles  was  provoked  a  little  while  ago  to 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS       19 

anger  in  a  controversy  with  one  of  our  citizens,  and  the 
hot  words  came,  and  the  blasphemous  sentences  fell  from 
his  lips,  and  he  is  all  filled  with  shame  and  humiliation, 
and  he  has  not  come  to  church  any  more  since."     "Now," 
said  the  minister  to  the  men,  "find  him.     He  must  be  re- 
covered, nor  must  you  cease  until  he  is  recovered."     But 
the  weeks  went  by,  and  he  was  not  recovered,  and  one  day, 
as  the  minister  went  down  a  certain  street,  right  there 
before  him  he  saw  Charles  coming,  and  Charles  saw  the 
minister,    and    turned    quickly    down    an    alley,    but    the 
minister   said:      "Wait  a   minute,   Charles;    wait   a   min- 
ute!"   And  he  waited,  quite  hesitatingly,  and  the  minister 
said:     "Why  are  you  dodging  me,  Charles?"    And  with 
face   averted,   and   by   this   time   covered   with    tears,   he 
said:     "You  know.     They  have  told  you.     Nor  is  that  all. 
I  told  you  I  had  better  wait  a  few  months  before  I  joined 
the  church.     I  told  you  of  my  frailty,  of  my  weakness. 
But  now  I  am  in  the  church,  and  the  other  day  the  old 
anger  came  back,  and  I  used  hot,  blasphemous  words.     I 
did  not  sleep  at  all  that  night.     My  pillow  was  wet  with 
my  tears.     All  through  the  night  I  talked  with  God,  and 
God  spoke  forgiveness  to  me,  and  I  went  back  the  next 
morning  and  asked  the  man  to  forgive  me,  and  he  cried 
with  me,  though  he  is  not  a  church  man,  and  he  forgave 
me."     "Now,"  I  said,  "Charles,  would  you  come  down  to 
the  prayer-meeting  and  say  about  that  much  to  us?"     And 
he  said :     "If  you  think  I  ought,  I  will."     So  he  was  at  the 
prayer-meeting  Wednesday  night,  and  when  the  place  was 
made  for  him,  he  was  on  his  feet,  and  timidly  told  about 
what  I  have  just  described.     You  should  have  seen  the  men 
and  women  gather  around  him.     You  should  have   seen 
them  as  they  greeted  him,  and  as  they  sobbed  with  him, 
and  as  they  said:     "Charles,  we  will  help  you.     We  will 
forgive  you,  and  you  will  help  us."     And  he  was  on  the 
right  road  again !    That  is  what  this  Scripture  talks  about. 
Whenever  anybody  goes  astray,  "you  who  are  spiritual 
restore  such  a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  considering 
thyself,  lest  thou  also  be  tempted.     In  this  way  bear  ye 
one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ.*' 


20  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

But  this  Scripture  has  a  broader  meaning  than  that. 
We  are  not  only  to  make  it  a  point  to  do  our  best  to  recover 
people  who  have  gone  wrong  and  are  going  wrong,  but  we 
are  to  share  burdens  with  people  all  about  us,  whatever 
their  burdens  are.  There  are  the  burdens  of  the  sorrowing. 
Even  as  I  speak,  your  mind  is  busy,  and  you  call  up  some 
family  wrapped  about  this  very  midday  with  great  sorrow, 
or  you  call  up  some  man  or  woman  about  whom  the  shad- 
ows hang  with  fearful  weight  this  very  hour.  Go  and 
share  such  one's  sorrow,  without  delay.  Nor  is  that  all. 
All  about  us  are  people  with  their  weighty  burdens,  bur- 
dens terrific,  heavy  burdens.  Go  to  them  and  share  with 
them  these  weighty  burdens.  There  is  the  teacher.  There 
is  the  preacher.  There  is  the  ruler  in  the  affairs  of  civil  gov- 
ernment. Weighty  burdens  are  on  their  heads  and  hearts. 
Do  not  make  it  hard  for  those  in  places  of  public  trust  and 
responsibility  to  serve  and  to  lead.  Make  it  easy,  with  the 
right  sort  of  co-operation  and  the  right  sort  of  burden 
bearing. 

How  may  we  all  help  people?  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  The  most  beau- 
tiful portrait  we  have  of  Jesus  is  given  here  in  the  gospels, 
in  five  little  words :  "He  went  about  doing  good."  There 
is  the  most  beautiful  portrait  ever  drawn  of  Jesus.  How 
may  we  all  help  people  all  about  us?  First  of  all,  we  may 
help  them  by  living  the  right  kind  of  lives  ourselves.  The 
highest  contribution  you  will  ever  offer  this  community 
and  this  world  is  to  offer  it  the  right  kind  of  a  life.  Glad- 
stone never  tired  of  saying:  "One  example  is  worth  a  thou- 
sand arguments."  One  Savonarola  turned  the  tides  of 
wicked  Florence.  One  Aristides,  the  just  man,  perceptibly 
lifted  Athens  higher.  Ten  righteous  men  would  have  saved 
Sodom.  The  people  of  Constantinople  said  about  John 
Chrysostom,  the  golden-mouthed:  "It  were  better  for  the 
sun  to  cease  his  shining  than  for  John  Chrysostom  to  cease 
his  preaching."  T]ie  b^^t  contribution  that  you  can  ever 
offer  to  this  weary,  needy  world  is  to  offer  it  the  right  kind 
of  a  life. 

How  may  we  all  help  people?  We  are  to  make  it  a 
point  constantly — constantly — to  believe  in  people.     Every 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS       21 

one  of  us  needs  the  enthusiasm  of  Jesus,  our  great  Master, 
for  humanity.  He  came  to  a  man  hated  by  his  own  race, 
Matthew,  the  tax-gatherer,  sitting  there  at  the  poll  tax 
booth,  and  He  said  to  him:  "Matthew,  follow  me,  and  I 
will  make  a  good  man  out  of  you,"  and  from  that  hour 
Matthew  followed  Him.  He  came  to  another  hated  tax- 
gatherer,  Zaccheus,  the  little  man  who  climbed  up  in  the 
tree,  and  pausing  under  that  tree,  the  Master  said :  "Come 
down  out  of  the  tree.  I  will  go  home  w4th  you  to-day/' 
And  from  that  hour  Zaccheus  followed  Jesus,  a  faithful 
friend  of  that  great  Master.  Like  Jesus,  we  are  to  believe 
in  people.  I  think  nothing  of  that  system  of  espionage 
which  is  forever  spying  out  people,  to  catch  up  with  their 
weaknesses  and  their  faults.  We  are  to  have,  like  Jesus, 
great  passion  and  compassion  and  brotherliness  and  sym- 
pathy for  a  needy  world,  and  we  are  to  believe  in  people. 
A  little  girl  who  waited  upon  her  semi-invalid  mother,  day 
by  day  going  across  the  street  to  get  a  pail  of  milk,  was 
crossing  the  street  one  day,  and  the  passing  car  frightened 
her,  and  she  tripped  and  fell,  and  the  milk  was  gone,  and 
a  big  man  laughed  cruelly — oh,  how  could  he  have  done 
it! — and  then  he  said  to  the  little  child,  in  her  dismay: 
"What  a  great  beating  mother  will  give  you  when  you  get 
home!"  And  that  brought  the  little  girl  to  self-control, 
and  she  said:  "Nothing  of  the  sort,  sir!  My  mamma 
always  believes  in  giving  me  another  chance."  So  our 
Master  believes  in  giving  men  another  chance,  and  we 
are  to  have  His  temper  and  walk  in  His  footsteps,  always. 

Nor  is  that  all.  We  are  to  make  it  a  point  constantly 
to  encourage  people.  Oh,  my  brother  men,  it  is  a  sin  for  any 
man  on  the  earth  to  be  a  miserable  discourager!  Discour- 
agement is  a  sin.  Men  and  women  are  fighting  a  big  battle, 
and  they  do  not  need  weights  put  on  them  by  discourage- 
ment. They  need  wings  put  on  them,  that  they  may  rise 
and  fly,  as  they  grapple  with  the  big  tasks  that  daily  con- 
front them.  Bobbie  Burns,  in  the  heyday  of  his  great 
power  as  a  writer,  saw  a  little  boy  following  him  around 
in  a  certain  community,  and  turning  to  the  little  boy, 
Bobbie  Burns  said  to  him:  "Walter,  what  do  you  wish?" 
And  little  Walter  timidly  said :    "Oh,  I  wish  that  some  day 


22  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

I  might  be  a  great  writer  like  you,  and  have  people  talking 
about  me  like  they  talk  about  you."  And  Bobbie  Burns, 
that  great-hearted  man,  stopped  and  put  his  hand  on  the 
I  head  of  little  Walter,  and  spoke  words  of  inspiration  and 
cheer,  and  said :  "You  can  be  a  great  writer  some  day, 
Walter,  and  you  will  be/'  That  little  boy  was  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  and  to  the  day  of  Sir  Walter's  death,  he  could  never 
speak  of  Bobbie  Burns  except  with  a  sob  of  gratitude,  for 
Burns  spoke  the  word  in  season  to  the  weary  heart  of  a 
little  boy. 

Yonder  was  a  fire  in  the  big  city,  and  the  firemen  flung 
their  ladders  together,  and  went  up  in  their  brave  fashion 
to  the  topmost  story  to  rescue  the  people  in  such  peril,  and 
one  after  another  was  rescued  by  the  brave  fire  laddies. 
All  had  been  rescued,  it  seemed.  No!  Yonder  is  a  white 
face  at  that  upper  window,  and  they  wrapped  something 
about  one  of  the  fire  laddies,  and  breasting  the  fierce  flames, 
he  went  again  to  that  window,  and  put  the  robe  around 
the  little  woman  and  started  down,  but  they  saw  him 
tremble  as  the  fire  raged  around  him,  and  it  seemed  that 
he  would  fall  with  his  precious  burden,  but  the  fire  chief 
cried  to  his  men :  *'Cheer  him,  boys !  Cheer  him,  boys !" 
And  they  cheered  him,  cheer  after  cheer,  and  heart  came 
back,  and  he  came  down,  with  the  precious  life  saved.  Oh, 
you  and  I  are  to  give  our  lives  to  cheering  a  needy  world ! 
Ponder  this  beautiful  sentence  from  Isaiah :  "They  helped 
every  one  his  neighbor ;  and  every  one  said  to  his  brother, 
Be  of  good  courage." 

Now  there  is  one  more  word  to  say,  and  it  is  the  best 
of  all :  "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  sus- 
tain thee."  If  you  will  read  this  55th  Psalm,  from  which 
that  great  promise  is  taken,  you  will  find  that  the  utterer 
of  such  promise  wanted  to  flee  away.  "Oh,  that  I  had 
wings  like  a  dove,"  he  cried,  "for  then  would  I  fly  away, 
and  be  at  rest."  The  burdens  were  so  weighty,  the  awful 
conflict  was  so  fiery:  "I  will  just  leave  it  all.  I  will  just 
throw  this  thing  down,  and  I  will  get  away.  I  will  flee. 
I  will  run.  I  will  give  it  up.  I  will  not  stay  with  it." 
Who  has  not  felt  that?  Who  has  not  felt  —  "I  have  had 
as  much  of  this  as  I  can  bear.     I  will  get  out  of  it.     I 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS       23 

will  run.  I  will  fly.  I  will  gtt  away."  But  that  would 
not  win,  for  when  you  got  away  out  there  in  the  wilderness, 
you  would  have  your  burden  yet,  for  you  have  your  mem- 
ory, you  have  your  personality,  you  have  yourself.  You 
cannot  thus  get  away  from  life's  burdens.  There  is  the 
burden  of  perplexity  for  you,  no  matter  where  you  go; 
and  there  is  the  burden  of  the  consciousness  of  neglected 
duty,  no  matter  where  you  go ;  and  there  is  the  burden  of 
some  sin  athwart  your  conscience,  like  some  ghastly  can- 
cer, no  matter  where  you  go.  What  are  you  to  do  with 
these  burdens  of  perplexity  and  neglected  duty  and  sins? 
What  are  you  to  do?  Where  are  you  to  go?  There  is 
only  one  place.  "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the  Lord,  and  He 
shall  sustain  thee." 

How  will  He  sustain  you?  He  will  do  it  in  one  of  two 
ways.  He  may  take  the  burden  away.  Sometimes  He 
does,  blessed  be  His  name !  You  have  come  sometimes,  as 
have  I,  into  that  deep  garden  of  Gethsemane,  when  that 
black  Friday  broke  all  our  plans,  and  in  our  dire  despera- 
tion we  have  prayed,  with  the  Master:  "If  it  be  possible, 
let  this  cup  pass  from  me.  If  it  be  possible,  forbid  that  I 
should  drink  this  bitter  cup  that  is  being  put  to  my  lips." 
And  the  cup  was  taken  away,  and  we  did  not  have  to  drink 
it  at  all.  Time  and  again  you  have  prayed,  as  you  faced 
a  certain  great  burden,  that  God  would  remove  it,  and  He 
heard,  and  the  burden  was  taken  away.  But  suppose  it  is 
not?  And  sometimes  it  is  not.  Ofttimes  it  is  not  We 
pray,  but  there  is  the  burden  yet.  Now,  what  if  God  shall 
not  take  the  burden  away?  Then  He  has  promised  to 
come  in  with  divine  re-enforcement  and  help  us  to  bear  that 
burden  and  be  victor,  no  matter  how  weighty  it  is,  nor  how 
fiery  in  its  biting  power  in  our  life.  Paul  had  re-enforce- 
ment. He  had  a  thorn  in  the  flesh.  I  do  not  know  what 
it  was,  nor  do  you,  but  it  was  something  very  trying.  If 
ever  there  was  a  genuine  man  in  the  world,  it  was  the 
Apostle  Paul.  He  was  the  highest  product  that  Christian- 
ity has  ever  produced.  This  same  man  said :  "There  was 
given  to  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh."  He  called  it  the  "mes- 
senger of  Satan,"  sent  to  buffet  him,  and  he  said :  "I  went 
like  the  Master  in  the  garden,  and  thrice  did  I  beseech  the 


24  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Lord  that  He  would  take  that  thorn  away,  but  He  did 
not  take  it  away  at  all.  He  left  it,  to  goad  me  and  harass 
me  and  burn  me  and  pain  me.  But  He  said  to  me :  Taul, 
Paul,  my  grace  is  sufficient  for  you' " — not  "shall  be/'  but 
"is."  "My  grace  is  sufficient  for  you,"  here  and  now,  ever- 
present  and  never-failing.  No  matter  where  you  go,  nor 
what  shall  come,  "my  grace  is  sufficient  for  you."  And 
from  that  time  on  you  have  no  more  record  of  Paul's 
praying  that  that  thorn  might  be  taken  away.  From  that 
timxC  Paul  said :  "Most  gladly,  therefore,  will  I  rather  glory 
in  my  thorn,  glory  in  my  infirmities,  that  the  power  of 
Christ  may  rest  upon  me."  Said  Paul :  "I  had  rather  have 
my  thorn  in  the  flesh,  which  is  ever  present  with  me,  and 
have  God's  added  grace,  than  to  be  without  that  thorn  and 
miss  that  added  grace  and  light  and  love  from  God."  Now, 
doesn't  that  explain  much?  He  will  give  you  increased 
grace,  grace  upon  grace,  if  He  does  not  take  the  burden 
away  when  you  call  to  Him  to  take  such  burden  away. 

Oh,  my  men  and  women,  with  your  burdens,  whatever 
they  are,  here  is  the  way  out:  "Cast  thy  burden  upon  the 
Lord,  and  He  shall  sustain  thee."  Seek  not  to  bear  it 
alone.  Seek  not  to  fight  out  your  battle  alone.  Seek  not 
to  solve  that  perplexity  alone.  Seek  not  to  stem  that  flood 
alone.  Seek  not  to  go  through  that  long  and  bitter  night 
alone.  Take  the  Master  into  your  counsels  and  into  your 
plans,  and  turn  yourself  over  to  Him,  with  your  burden, 
whatever  it  is,  and  He  shall  sustain  you.  One  of  the  great 
words  in  the  Bible  is  that  fine  word  "sustain."  He  shall 
sustain  you.  No  matter  what  your  burden  is — I  dare  to 
say  it — no  matter  what  your  burden  is,  you  shall  get  sus- 
taining strength  from  God,  and  your  heart  shall  surely 
know  it,  if  you  will  only  cast  yourself  honestly  upon  Him. 

Have  you  learned  the  secret  of  peace?  In  a  world  of 
burden  and  battle  and  perplexity  and  clouds  and  shadows 
and  night  and  death,  have  you  learned  the  secret  of  peace  ? 
You  will  never  know  it  until  you  learn  how  to  cast  your 
burden  upon  the  Lord.  I  am  thinking  now  of  a  strong 
man  yonder  in  the  city,  whose  beautiful  wife  was  taken 
from  him  after  an  illness  of  just  a  few  hours,  and  the  man 
was  left  with  a  little  flaxen-haired  girl,  of  some  four  or  five 


WHAT  TO  DO  WITH  LIFE'S  BURDENS       25 

summers.      The   body  was   carried  out  to  the   cemetery, 
where  was  a  simple  service,  and  every  heart  was  broken, 
the  grief  was  so  appalling.    And  then  when  the  service  was 
over,  neighbors  gathered  around  the  big  man  and  said  to 
him :    "You  must  come,  with  this  little  baby  girl,  and  stay 
with  us  for  several  days.     You  must  not  go  back  to  that 
home  now."    And  the  broken-hearted  man  said:     "Yes, 
I  must  go  right  back  to  the  same  place  where  she  was,  to 
the  room  from  which  she  went  away,  and  I  must  fight  it 
out  wnth  this  baby  right  there,"  and  back  they  went.     He 
told  about  it  all  the  next  day.     The  baby  was  late  and  long 
going  to  sleep.     Oh,  was  there  ever  anything  more  pathetic 
than  the  cry  of  a  bairn  for  the  little  mother  that  will  never 
come  back  again?      Long  and  late  the  little  one,  in  the 
crib  there  by  the  bed,  sobbed,  because  she  could  not  go  to 
sleep,  and  the  big  man  reached  his  hand  over  to  the  crib 
and  petted  her  and  mothered  her,  as  best  he  could,  and  I 
after  awhile  the  little  girl,  out  of  sorrow  for  her  father,  ] 
stopped  her  crying— just  out  of  sorrow  for  him.     And  in  ' 
the  darkness  of  that  quiet  time  the  big  man  looked  through   - 
the  darkness  to  God,  and  said:     "I  trust  you,  but,  oh,  it  I 
is  as  dark  as  midnight."    And  then  the  little  girl  started    ■ 
up  her  sobbing  again,  and  the  father  said:     "Why,  papa 
thought  you  were  asleep,  baby."    And  she  said:     "Papa, 
I  did  tr3^     I  was  sorry  for  you.     I  did  try,  but  I  could  not 
go  to  sleep,  papa."     And  then  she  said:     "Papa,  did  you 
ever  know  it  to  be  so  dark?     Why,  papa,  I  cannot  even 
see  you,  it  is  so  dark."    And  then,  sobbing,  the  little  thing 
said:     "But,  papa,  you  love  me,  if  it  is  dark,  don't  you? 
You  love  me,  if  I  don't  see  you,  don't  you,  papa?"    You 
know  what  he  did.      He  reached  across  with   those  big 
hands  and  took  the  little  girl  out  of  her  crib,  and  brought 
her  over  on  his  big  heart,  and  mothered  her,  until  at  last, ) 
sobbing,  the  little  thing  fell  to  sleep,  and  then  when  she  ' 
was  asleep,  he  took  his  baby's  cry  to  him,  and  passed  it 
up  to  God,  and  said:     "Father,  it  is  as  dark  as  midnight. \ 
I  cannot  see  at  all.     But  you  love  me,  if  it  is  dark,  don't  j 
you?    I  will  trust  you,  though  you  slay  me.     With  my' 
baby,  and  my  grief,  and  my  utter  desolation,  I  will  turn  my 
case  over  to  God."    And  then  the  darkness  was  like  unto 


26  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  morning!  God  always  comes  to  people  who  trust 
Him.  Have  you  learned  the  secret  of  peace?  Henry  Van 
Dyke  points  the  secret  in  his  poem  on  "Peace."  Mark  the 
words : 

With  eager  heart,  and  will  on  fire, 
I   sought  to   win  my  great  desire. 
"Peace  shall  be  mine,"  I  said.     But  life 
Grew  bitter  in  the  endless   strife. 


My  soul  was  weary,  and  my  pride 
Was   wounded   deep.      To   heaven   I   cried: 
"God   give   me  peace,   or   I   must   die." 
The   dumb    stars    glittered   no    reply. 

Broken  at  last,    I   bowed   my  _  head. 
Forgetting   all   myself,   and   said: 
"Wliatever  comes,  His  will  be  done." 
And  in  that  moment,  peace  was  won. 

Whatever  your  burdens — of  sin,  or  grief,  or  doubt,  or 
disappointment,  or  regret,  or  remorse,  or  conscious  fear 
and  failure — dare  to  cast  your  burden,  yourself,  your  all, 
to-day  and  forever  upon  the  Lord.  Do  it  now  while  we 
pray. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

O  thou  Divine  Savior  and  Burden  Bearer,  speak  the  word  in  season  to 
these  busy,  battling,  sinning,  burdened  men  and  women,  gathered  for  this  brief 
midday  service.  Let  every  man  and  woman  of  us,  personally  and  faithfully  face 
our  daily  task  just  like  it  ought  to  be  faced.  And  let  us  all  consecrate  ourselves 
today  and  in  all  coming  days,  to  the  last  noble  limit  of  ministry,  as  we  seek  to 
help  other  people  to  bear  their  burdens.  Forbid,  O  God,  that  we  shall  add  to 
people's  burdens.  And  then  let  us  all  com.e  with  our  burdens,  and  they  are  many, 
and  let  us  cast  them,  with  ourselves,  utterly  upon  that  great  Savior,  who  is 
pledged  to  turn  the  very  distemperatures  of  life  into  triumphs  for  us,  if  we  will 
only  consent  that  His  will  may  be  done  in  our  lives.  Give  us  grace  and  help 
that  we  may  all  yield  ourselves  to  thy  will,  now  and  forever.  And  as  you_  go 
now,  may  the  blessing  of  the  Triune  God,  even  of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit, 
be  granted  you,  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  through  today,  and  through  to- 
morrow, and  throughout  God's  vast  beyond,  forever.     Amen. 


Ill 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  12,  1917. 
PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Before  reading  the  Scriptures,  I  should  like  to  make  two 
remarks — first,  a  general  remark,  and  then  one  quite  particular 
with  reference  to  these  services.  The  general  remark  is,  that 
Christians  ought  to  be  the  very  best  of  citizens,  and  in  this  time 
of  national,  and  international,  and  even  world  testing,  Chris- 
tians should  be  on  the  alert  constantly  to  see  how  they  can 
best  serve  humanity's  interests.  I  trust  that  daily  the  Chris- 
tians listening  to  me  to-night  are  giving  themselves  to  prayer 
about  the  World  War.  Oh,  what  need  for  constant  and  fervent 
intercession  respecting  this  war!  My  belief  is  that  we  have 
entered  into  this  war  under  the  highest  moral  compulsion. 
We  have  not  entered  into  it,  I  must  believe,  with  any  lust 
for  revenge,  or  for  gain,  but  purely,  and  simply,  and  solely, 
in  the  interest  of  humanity,  at  home  and  the  world  round, 
for  today  and  for  every  after  day.  Therefore,  it  behooves 
every  Christian,  and  every  right-thinking  citizen  as  well,  who 
may  not  be  a  Christian,  to  give  the  most  worthy  consideration 
to  the  personal  part  that  each  of  us  should  have  with  respect 
to  this  great  conflict.  Without  ceasing,  we  should  make  our 
appeal  to  God  that  He  may  lead  us  to  do  His  will.  And  with- 
out ceasing,  we  should  seek  in  every  high  possible  way,  to 
help  our  sons  and  brothers,  who  are  going  out  from  every 
community  to  the  camps  to  be  trained  for  the  great  conflict. 
And  in  every  way  we  can,  every  one  of  us,  as  our  noble 
President  has  said,  "should  do  his  bit/*  in  this  testing  hour, 

27 


28  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

when  every  human  being  in  this  country  is  involved,  and 
vitally  involved,  because  of  the  war.  I  will  venture  to  add 
this  other  word,  a  word  which  I  said  to  my  own  people  in 
Dallas  a  short  time  ago,  that  every  man  and  woman  in  our 
land,  who  can  do  so,  should  come  with  noble  response  to  the 
appeal  that  is  daily  heard,  touching  the  Liberty  Bonds.  Every 
man  and  woman  who  can  do  so  should  re-enforce  the  Govern- 
ment at  this  practical  point.  It  is  a  matter  reasonable,  it  is  a 
matter  righteous,  and  I  believe  that  it  is  a  matter  profoundly 
and  urgently  necessary.  It  is  indeed  a  high  privilege  to  be 
the  right  kind  of  a  citizen.  Patriotism  is  a  word  of  tremendous 
significance. 

Now,  a  very  particular  word  touching  the  interests  of  the 
meeting.  I  raise  the  question  with  every  Christian  under  the 
sound  of  my  voice  this  night :  Won't  you  make  it  a  point,  from 
day  to  day,  to  do  some  definite  religious  visiting?  All  about  us 
there  are  people  who  are  needing,  more  than  words  can  say, 
to  be  spoken  to  in  the  right  way,  concerning  personal  religion. 
Won't  you  thus  dedicate  yourself  for  an  hour  to-morrow?  And 
if  it  could  not  be  an  hour,  for  half  an  hour?  And  if  it  could 
not  be  half  an  hour,  for  ten  minutes?  And  if  it  could  not  be 
ten  minutes,  for  as  much  as  one  minute,  to  speak  to  some 
human  soul  about  personal  religion?  I  do  not  think  much  of 
a  meeting  where  its  activities  are  limited  to  the  public  services. 
I  think  very  much  of  any  meeting,  if  the  people  come  to  it, 
and  humbly  and  earnestly  seek  to  have  their  spiritual  strength 
renewed,  and  light  their  torches,  and  then  go  out  to  find  some- 
body in  need  of  God's  guidance  and  help,  and  speak  to  that 
somebody,  and  seek  to  guide  that  somebody  into  the  right  way. 
That  is  a  meeting  worth  while.  Oh,  I  press  it  upon  you! 
Won't  you  do  some  of  the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting  every 
day  of  these  special  days  set  apart  for  public  services?  There 
is  a  drifting  Christian  that  you  ought  to  see.  He  began  well 
back  yonder,  and  something  came  to  bewitch  him  away  from 
the  right  path.  Oh,  how  he  needs  the  right  kind  of  a  talk! 
There  is  somebody  whose  church  membership  is  not  in  Fort 
Worth,  but  his  life  or  her  life  is  here.  The  church  member- 
ship is  back  yonder  in  the  village  church  or  city  church  or 
country  church,  but  the  life  is  here,  and  the  church  member- 
ship ought  to  be  here,  and  the  activity  ought  to  be  here,  and 


PRELIMINARY  REMARKS  29 

the  service  ought  to  be  here,  and  the  alignment,  open  and 
public,  for  Christ,  ought  to  be  here.  Do  you  know  such  people  ? 
Say  the  right  word  to  them  at  once.  And  then,  above  all  that, 
there  are  men  and  women  and  children  all  about  you,  who 
are  going  their  way  without  God,  to  whom  you  ought  to 
speak.  My  fellow-men,  if  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  worth 
a  straw,  it  is  worth  dying  for,  and,  certainly,  it  is  worth 
living  for.  The  one  without  Christ  is  not  ready  to  die,  and — 
what  is  of  probably  larger  consequence — ^that  one  is  not  ready 
to  live — no,  not  for  a  day,  nor  for  an  hour.  Won't  you  do 
the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting  between  this  and  the  service 
to-morrow  night?    God  speed  you  and  help  you,  I  pray. 

You  are  ready  to  listen  for  a  moment,  with  reverence,  I 
trust,  to  two  passages  of  Scripture,  the  first  from  the  ninth 
chapter  of  Mark : 

And  when  He  came  to  His  disciples,  He  saw  a  great  multitude  about  them, 
and  the  scribes  questioning  with  them. 

Arguing  with  them. 

And  straightway  all  the  people,  when  they  beheld  Him,  were  greatly  amazed, 
and  running  to  Him  saluted  Him.  And  He  asked  the  scribes.  What  question  ye 
with  them?  And  one  of  the  multitude  answered  and  said.  Master,  I  have  brought 
unto  thee  my  son,  which  hath  a  dumb  spirit ;  And  wheresoever  he  taketh  him, 
he  teareth  him:  and  he  foameth,  and  gnasheth  with  his  teeth,  and  pineth  away: 
and  I  spake  to  thy  disciples  that  they  should  cast  him  out;  and  they  could  not. 

That  is  what  the  uproar  is  about.    Your  men  have  failed. 

Jesus  answereth  him,  and  saith,  O  faithless  generation,  how  long  shall  I  be 
with  you?  how  long  shall  I  suffer  you?  bring  him  unto  me.  And  they  brought 
him  unto  Him :  and  when  He  saw  him,  straightway  the  spirit  tare  him ;  and  he 
fell  on  the  ground,  and  wallowed  foaming.  And  Jesus  asked  his  father.  How  long 
is  it  ago  since  this  came  unto  him?  And  he  said,  Of  a  child.  And  ofttimes  it 
hath  cast  him  into  the  fire,  and  into  the  waters,  to  destroy  him:  but  if  thou  canst 
do  anything,  have  compassion  on  us,  and  help  us. 

Miserable  prayer,  wasn't  it?  About  like  many  of  mine,  I 
am  afraid.  Think  of  saying  that  to  God,  to  the  Almighty 
Savior:  "If  thou  canst  do  anything,  have  compassion  on  us 
and  help  us!"  Jesus  said,  "You  have  the  *if'  in  the  wrong 
place."    Mark  just  what  He  said: 

Jesus  said  unto  him.  If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him 
that  believeth.  And  straightway  the  father  of  the  child  cried  out,  and  said  with 
tears,  Lord,  I  believe;  help  thou  mine  unbelief. 

That  is  a  glorious  prayer.    You  do  not  wonder  that  Daniel 
Webster  wanted  it  carved  on  his  gravestone :  "Lord,  I  believe ;  / 
help  thou  mine  unbelief."  I 

When  Jesus  saw  that  the  people  came  running  together,  He  rebuked  the 
foul  spirit,  saying  unto  him.  Thou  dumb  and  deaf  spirit,  I  charge  thee,  come  out 
of  him,  and  enter  no  more  into  him.  And  the  spirit  cried,  and  rent  him  sore,  and 
came  out  of  him:  and  he  was  as  one  dead;  insomuch  that  many  said.  He  is  dead. 
But  Jesus  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  lifted  him  up ;  and  he  arose.  And  when 
Jesus  was  come  into  the  house  His  disciples  asked  Him  privately.  Why  could  not 
we  cast  him  out? 


80  A^  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Well,  sure  enough,  why  couldn't  they?  When  Jesus  sent 
forth  the  twelve,  one  of  the  powers  He  gave  them  was  power 
to  cast  out  unclean  spirits,  and  they  succeeded.  And  later, 
when  He  sent  forth  the  seventy,  one  of  the  powers  He  gave 
them  was  power  against  unclean  spirits,  and  they  succeeded. 
When  they  came  back  from  one  of  their  tours,  one  of  their 
reports  was:  "Lord,  even  the  devils  are  subject  unto  us, 
through  thy  name."  But  they  failed  this  time,  utterly.  So 
they  asked  Him,  when  alone:  "Why  could  not  we  cast  him 
out?*'    Mark  His  answer !    Oh,  what  an  answer  it  is ! 

And  He  said  unto  them.  This  kind  can  come  forth  by  nothing,  but  by  prayer. 

You  observe  that  the  word  "fasting"  is  omitted  in  the 
Revised  Version. 

Now  you  are  ready  to  hear  a  briefer  Scripture,  from  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Luke: 

Now  it  came  to  pass  on  a  certain  day,  that  He  went  into  a  ship  with  His 
disciples :  ajid  He  said  unto  them,  Let  us  go  over  unto  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 
And  they  launched  forth.  But  as  they  sailed  He  fell  asleep:  and  there  came 
down  a  storm  of  wind  on  the  lake;  and  they  were  filled  with  water,  and  were  in 

^rfJ^ffTTf^'-n,  V^^^  ^^""^  i""  ^^"?'  f "^  ^"^9^^  ^^"^'  s^y^nST,  Master,  Master,  we 
perish!  Then  He  arose,  and  rebuked  the  wind  and  the  raging  of  the  water:  and 
they  ceased,  and  there  was  a  calm.    And  He  said  unto  them.  Where  is  your  faith? 

WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH? 

Text:    "And  He  said  unto  them.  Where  is  your  faith?"--Luke  8 :25. 

Jesus  said  unto  His  disciples,  some  1900  years  ago,  on  the 
storm-swept  water,  when  they  were  all  affrighted  and  filled 
with  dismay,  "Where  is  your  faith?"  [And  Jesus  says  to  a 
great  audience  of  men  and  women  assembled  in  Fort  Worth, 
Tuesday  evening,  June  12,  1917,  "Where  is  your  faith?"  This 
is  a  question  that  needs  to  be  asked  very  often,  and  it  needs 
to  be  faithfully  answered  when  we  ask  it,  for  it  is  about  the 
most  vital  matter  of  all,  even  our  faith. 

The  conquering  weapon  is  faith.  "Without  faith  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God."  His  Book  so  tells  us.  "This  is  the 
victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  We  shall 
not  have  victory  without  faith.  Of  old,  God's  plaintive  ques- 
tion to  His  Israel  was:  "Hov/  long  will  it  be  ere  ye  believe 
me?"  And  that  is  His  question  to  His  Israel  this  very  hour. 
"O  my  people,  how  long  will  it  be  ere  ye  believe  me?"  The 
The  undoing  sin  of  Christians  is  their  unfaith.  We  are  all 
along  saying,  and  correctly,  that  the  undoing  sin  of  the  un- 
believer is  his  unfaith.    "He  that  believeth  not  is  condemned 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  31 

already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the  name  of  the  only- 
begotten  Son  of  God,"  and  while  he  remains  in  that  unbelief 
must  continue  to  be  condemned.  Rejection  of  Christ,  unbelief 
toward  Christ,  that  is  the  undoing  sin.  Even  so,  the  undoing 
sin  for  Christians  is  their  un faith.  Of  old  Israel  could  not 
enter  the  Promised  Land  because  of  unbelief,  and  even  to-day, 
and  every  day,  God's  people  are  kept  out  of  many  a  promised 
land  because  of  unbelief.  We  doubt  God's  ability,  or  we 
doubt  His  willingness,  or  both  His  ability  and  willingness,  to 
help  us,  and  we  go  our  way,  groping,  and  floundering,  and  fail- 
ing. It  is  not  only  a  pity,  but  it  is  a  sin,  deep  and  tragical,  if 
we  are  not  steadily  growing  in  faith.  That  was  a  beautiful 
tribute  Paul  paid  the  church  at  Thessalonica,  when  he  said: 
"We  are  bound  to  thank  God  always  for  you,  brethren,  as  it  is 
meet,  because  that  your  faith  groweth  exceedingly."  It  will 
not  only  be  a  misfortune,  but  it  will  be  a  sin,  if  with  you  and 
me  our  faith  is  not  steadily  strengthening  and  growing. 

But  now  the  fact  confronts  us,  as  pointed  by  the  text,  that 
our  faith  may  be  misplaced.  The  faith  of  the  disciples  on  that 
storm-swept  water  was  evidently  misplaced.  They  were  dis- 
ciples of  Christ.  They  were  His  friends  and  followers.  But 
their  hearts  failed,  and  their  faith  went  down,  and  they  fainted 
in  spirit.  Their  faith  was  misplaced.  When  is  faith  mis- 
placed? I  shall  answer  that  it  is  misplaced  when  it  is  put  in 
human  appearances ;  and  we  are  all  along  tempted  to  put  our 
faith  in  mere  human  appearances.  How  we  are  influenced, 
how  we  are  swayed,  hov/  we  are  lifted  up  or  cast  down,  by 
mere  appearances!  If  the  weather  be  fair,  if  no  lowering 
clouds  come  to  menace,  if  all  goes  merry  as  a  wedding  bell, 
our  hearts  seem  hopeful  and  our  faith  buoyant.  But  that  is 
not  the  test.  How  is  it  when  the  heavens  are  darkened  with 
clouds?  How  is  it  when  the  loved  one  gasps,  and  the  sands 
of  life  seem  running  to  the  end?  How  is  it  when  crepe  is  on 
the  door?  How  is  it  when  the  granary  seems  scant  and  the 
crops  have  no  promise?  How  is  it  when  appearances  are  all 
against  us  ?  Our  faith  is  misplaced,  if  our  faith  is  put  in  mere 
human  appearances.  That  was  a  great  saying  given  by  a 
valiant  leader,  when  he  said:  "Never  take  counsel  of  your 
fears,  or  of  appearances." 


32  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Our  faith  is  misplaced,  I  go  on  to  say,  when  we  put  it  in 
human  agency.  And  certainly,  we  are  greatly  tempted,  and 
constantly,  to  put  our  faith  in  human  agency.  But  all  along, 
the  Scriptures,  by  telling  illustrations  and  by  pungent  pre- 
cepts, would  turn  us  away  from  putting  our  faith  in  mere 
human  agency.  The  Bible  tells  us  why  God  makes  choice, 
as  He  does,  of  such  remarkable  instrumentalities.  He  has 
chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty, 
and  the  reason  is  given  us  there  in  His  Book:  "That  your 
faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power 
of  God."  A  generation  or  two  removed  from  us,  God  startled 
the  world  by  finding  a  lad  yonder  in  the  country  placei  in 
England,  not  yet  out  of  his  teens,  and  God  brought  him  up  to 
the  world's  greatest  city,  to  great  London,  and  set  him  right 
there  in  its  heart  to  preach  His  wonderful  gospel.  Before 
this  young  man  was  thirty,  royalty  was  at  his  feet,  and  the 
British  Parliament  marvelled  at  his  power,  and  the  lines  of  his 
testimony  and  power  had  gone  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth — 
Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon,  the  most  victorious  gospel  preacher 
of  all  his  century,  and  perhaps  of  any  century  since  the  apos- 
tolic times.  He  was  a  man  uncolleged,  and  yet  God  said 
through  him  to  the  world  about  us:  "I  want  you  to  look  at 
this  man  and  listen  to  him  that  your  faith  may  not  stand  in  the 
wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God."  Our  God  is  sur- 
prising us  all  along  by  His  strange  choice  of  human  instru- 
mentalities. There  is  the  humble  country  boy.  He  has  never 
been  to  the  city  at  all.  He  is  following  his  plow.  He  goes 
to  the  little  country  church  house,  in  the  quiet  midsummer 
meeting.  His  heart  is  moved,  his  conscience  probed,  his  judg- 
ment convinced,  his  will  aroused,  and  he  bows  down  in  hum- 
ble penitence  before  Christ,  and  he  is  saved.  And  then  he 
follows  his  plow  still  again  and  strange  impulses  stir  in  his 
heart,  and  great  thoughts  bum  in  his  brain.  He  is  thinking 
about  preaching  the  gospel.  He  is  thinking  about  going  out 
and  telling  the  world  what  a  dear  Savior  he  has  found,  and 
how  he  would  have  every  man  know  the  same  blessed  Savior. 
The  years  pass  on,  several  of  them,  half  a  dozen,  a  dozen,  and 
yonder  is  that  country  lad  in  a  surging  city,  rallying  the 
tempted  thousands  of  sinning,  beaten  and  wandering  humanity, 
rallying  them  around  the  flag  of  Christ  Jesus,  the  Lord.  Who 
is  he?     A  plain  plowboy,  clothed  upon  with  the  grace  and 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  33 

might  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  in  him  and  through  him  God 
is  saying  to  the  world:  "See  him  now,  and  listen  to  him,  and 
remember,  your  faith  is  not  to  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men, 
but  in  the  power  of  God."  Oh,  how  it  gladdens  my  heart 
this  Tuesday  night,  to  have  the  faith  to  believe  that  some- 
where in  this  broad  country,  out  on  the  prairies,  or  out  yonder 
nestling  amid  the  trees,  in  some  little  cottage,  a  mother  folds 
to  her  heart  a  tiny  baby  boy,  and  when  you  and  I  shall  be 
sleeping  beneath  the  roses,  and  shall  be  perhaps  forgotten, 
that  boy  will  be  going  up  and  down  this  country,  rallying  the 
wavering,  sinning  thousands  around  the  flag  of  Christ,  a  child 
out  from  some  home  of  poverty  and  need,  and  God  will  be 
saying  through  him  to  the  world:  "See  him,  now,  and  listen, 
that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in 
the  power  of  God." 

But  I  think  that  most  of  all  our  faith  is  misplaced  because 
we  limit  God.  That  L  a  striking  expression  used  in  one  of  the 
Psalms,  where  the  Psalmist  said,  concerning  Israel  of  old: 
"They  limited  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  They  "limited  God." 
Mankind  can  limit  God,  and  does  limit  Him.  At  first  thought, 
that  seems  impossible.  The  infinite  God,  filling  all  immensity, 
without  beginning  of  days  or  ending  of  years,  omnipotent, 
omniscient,  omnipresent,  eternal — at  first  thought  it  seems  im- 
possible that  He  could  be  limited,  and  yet  He  can  be,  and  is, 
limited.  Man  limits  God,  else  man  is  a  mere  machine,  without 
any  more  volition  than  a  tree  or  a  stone.  Man  can  say  "No" 
to  God,  or  man  can  say  "Yes"  to  God.  Man  can  seek  God's 
face,  and  by  Divine  Grace  become  God's  friend,  and  go  God's 
road,  and  glorify  God's  great  name ;  or  man  can  be  rebellious, 
and  offer  his  protest  against  God,  and  turn  his  back  upon  God, 
and  miss  the  right  way,  and  come  to  defeat  and  failure.  Man 
limits  God.  How  does  he  limit  Him?  The  ways  are  many. 
We  can  limit  God  even  in  our  very  prayers.  You  have  proba- 
bly heard  prayers  which  had  in  them  a  limitation  upon  God. 
Full  many  a  time  when  we  pray  that  prayer  "not  my  will,  but 
thine,  be  done,"  our  hearts  really  mean:  "Not  thy  will,  O 
God,  but  mine,  be  done."  Ofttimes  we  are  found  trying  to 
persuade  God  to  come  to  our  notion  of  things,  and  accept  our 
view  of  things,  without  regard  to  His  wisdom  and  will.  All 
the  while  He  tells  us :   "You  leave  your  case  to  me,  and  trust 


34  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

» 
your  case  to  me,  and  submit  your  case  to  me,  and  I  will  do 
the  wisest  and  best  thing  possible  for  you,"  and  yet  full  many 
a  time  our  prayers  really  mean :  "Nevertheless,  O  Lord,  not 
thy  will  be  done  at  all,  but  mine  be  done,"  and  in  that  way  we 
limit  Him. 

And  then  we  limit  God  by  our  poor  lives.  Every  life  is 
either  a  channel  or  a  clog,  a  channel  through  which  God  sends 
His  blessing,  or  a  clog  to  hinder  and  obstruct  such  blessing.  A 
human  life  can  be  a  non-conductor,  failing  to  transmit  to  others 
what  God  would  send  through  that  life  unto  others.  That  is 
indeed  a  pathetic  picture,  where  Paul  writes  one  of  the  New 
Testament  churches,  saying:  "For  many  walk,  of  whom  I  have 
told  you  often,  and  now  tell  you,  even  weeping,  that  they  are 
the  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ."  Paul  was  writing  to  a 
church,  and  he  was  saying  to  that  church:  "Some  of  you 
church  members  so  walk  as  to  become  the  enemies  of  the  cross 
of  Christ."  Your  attention  has  been  called  to  that  solemn 
picture  in  the  last  book  of  the  Bible,  where  Jesus  stands  outside 
a  church,  begging  to  be  admitted.  Listen  to  Him:  "Behold, 
I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and 
open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him, 
and  he  with  me."  Jesus  is  there,  outside  a  church — outside! 
His  own  people  have  the  door  closed,  and  have  Him  outside, 
and  there  He  stands  on  the  outside,  knocking,  and  saying: 
"Won't  you  let  me  enter?  for  I  come  to  do  you  good,  and  not 
evil  at  all."  "O  Jesus,  thou  art  standing,  outside  the  fast- 
closed  door !"  Can  you  think  of  anything  more  heartbreaking 
this  night  than  to  imagine  yourselves  keeping  Jesus  out,  keep- 
ing Jesus  away  from  some  other  life,  yourself  a  clog,  obstruct- 
ing, yourself  a  non-conductor?  He  wishes  to  send  through 
you  a  message  of  life  and  grace  and  hope  to  others,  and  you 
are  a  non-conductor.  Can  you  imagine  anything  more  serious 
than  that  ?  We  limit  God  by  our  lives.  Every  Christian  whose 
life  is  wrong  with  God  positively  hinders  God  and  limits  God 
by  that  much. 

But  most  of  all,  we  limit  God,  T  dare  say,  by  our  unbelief, 
our  unfaith.  Israel  could  not  enter  the  Promised  Land  because 
of  unbelief;  and  you  and  I  are  kept  out  of  many  a  promised 
land  because  of  unbelief,  because  of  unfaith.  Jesus  wishes  us 
to  believe  in  Him.     The  right  sort  of  a  man  delights  to  be 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  35 

believed  in.  You  cannot  grieve  the  right  sort  of  a  man  in  any 
other  way  quite  so  deeply  as  to  indicate  to  him  that  you  do  not 
take  him  at  full  face  value,  as  he  represents  himself  to  you. 
The  right  sort  of  a  man  wishes  to  be  believed  in,  to  be  taken  at 
his  word.  God  delights  to  be  believed  in,  and  the  deepest  grief 
to  Him  is  given  Him  by  our  unfaith,  our  unbelief.  We  are 
told  here  in  the  gospels  that  in  one  certain  community  Jesus 
could  do  no  mighty  works  because  of  the  unbelief  of  the  peo- 
ple. Unbelief  hindered  Him.  Unbelief  fettered  Him,  even 
Christ  Jesus,  the  Lord.  And  so  He  comes  to  us  to-night,  say- 
ing: "According  to  your  faith,  so  be  it  unto  you.  Where  is 
your  faith?"  He  comes  to  us  to-night  saying:  "If  thou  canst 
believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.  Where 
is  your  faith  ?" 

We  are  all  along  talking  about  "hard  cases."  Now,  how 
foolish  and  unwise  and  wrong  is  such  talk,  when  we  think  of 
God.  He  asks  us :  "Is  anything  too  hard  for  the  Lord  ?"  That 
was  a  mighty  question  Paul  asked  when  he  asked:  "Why 
should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  with  you,  that  God 
should  raise  the  dead?"  Granted  a  God  who  has  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  who  formed  the  worlds  by  the  word  of 
His  power,  granted  a  Being  like  that,  and  where  is  there  any 
difficulty  or  mystery  in  such  a  God  raising  people  from  death 
and  the  grave?  So  that  our  talk  about  "hard  cases"  in  God's 
sight,  is  all  out  of  place  and  grievous  in  His  holy  presence. 

I  wonder,  my  fellow  Christians,  if  in  these  latter  days,  our 
faith  gets  much  higher  for  mankind  than  for  the  salvation  of 
the  children  in  the  Sunday-school,  and  the  plastic,  responsive 
young  people  that  are  all  about  us.  Where  is  the  faith  now 
that  claims  the  hardened  sinner  for  Christ?  Where  is  the 
faith  that  claims  the  old  man  with  the  gray  about  his  temples, 
far  down  in  the  afternoon  of  life — where  is  the  faith  that 
claims  that  man  for  God?  Where  is  the  faith  that  claims 
the  man  abandoned  to  sinful  and  consuming  habits?  Where 
is  the  faith  that  claims  him  for  God?  Where  is  the  faith 
that  claims  the  big  business  man,  great  and  strengthful, 
masterful  and  powerful,  but  preoccupied,  living  as  though  this 
world  were  all,  forgetting  that  out  there  a  few  steps  ahead  is 
the  judgment  and  eternity?  Where  is  the  faith  that  claims 
him,  from  all  that  preoccupation,  for  Christ  Jesus  and  His 


36  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

great  salvation  ?  Where  is  the  faith  that  claims  the  very  dif- 
ficult case  for  the  Lord  Christ?  Oh,  how  we  limit  God,  that 
we  do  not  go  out  and  claim  men,  no  matter  what  their  hin- 
drances and  their  limitations  and  their  sins !  How  we  grieve 
God,  if  we  do  not  go  out  and  claim  them  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
even  the  most  difficult  cases,  for  the  wonders  of  His  grace 
and  His  great  forgiveness ! 

May  I  tell  you  the  most  wonderful  conversion  that  I  ever 
witnessed  in  all  my  life?  Out  in  the  Middle  West,  where  it 
has  been  my  delight  to  go  many  a  time,  in  the  out  door  camp- 
meetings,  some  years  ago  I  went  and  found  in  that  particular 
community  some  very  difficult  religious  conditions.  There 
were  more  aged  people  in  that  community,  unsaved,  than  I 
have  ever  witnessed  anywhere  in  all  my  life,  before  or  since. 
The  religious  conditions  of  the  community  were  hard  and  dif- 
ficult. There  had  been  all  sorts  of  pesky  religious  debates — 
how  miserable  they  all  are,  and  how  inexcusable! — and  the 
people  were  set  and  gritty  and  hard  in  their  relations  toward 
one  another.  What  a  tragedy  when  that  is  so!  I  was  there 
some  two  or  three  days,  and  more  and  more  it  dawned  upon 
me  how  difficult  all  the  conditions  were.  They  told  me  daily 
about  those  white-haired  men  and  wom.en,  who  went  groping 
life's  way,  without  God  and  without  hope.  After  some  days, 
they  told  me  about  Big  Jim,  the  most  difficult  sinner,  they 
said,  west  of  Fort  Worth,  even  as  far  west  as  El  Paso.  They 
so  described  him  physically  that  I  could  not  miss  him  if  he 
came  to  the  meeting,  and  they  said :  "'He  will  come  one  time 
to  hear  you,  and  then  he  will  swear  at  you,  and  rail  at  you, 
and  curse  out  the  whole  meeting,  and  the  preachers  and  the 
churches  and  everybody,  and  then  he  will  wait  a  year  and  come 
back  a  year  from  now  to  go  over  the  same  performance  again." 
That  was  their  report  of  him.  I  stood  up  to  preach  one  even- 
ing and  in  came  Big  Jim.  I  could  not  miss  him,  from  their 
description.  Yonder  he  sat,  far  down  the  aisle  before  me,  at  the 
rear  of  the  great  arbor,  nor  did  he  take  his  eye,  it  seemed,  one 
time  from  the  minister,  while  his  message  was  being  given.  At 
the  close  of  the  message,  I  made  the  call  for  men  and  women 
who  would  then  and  there  humbly  and  honestly  make  surrender 
of  their  poor,  undone  and  sinful  lives  to  the  forgiving  mercy  and 
hdp  of  the  Divine  Savior,  and  down  every  aisle  white-haired 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  37 

men  and  women  came.  It  was  one  of  those  memorable  nights, 
never  to  be  forgotten.  Big  Jim  kept  his  seat,  nor  did  he  seem 
to  move.  After  awhile,  the  meeting  ended,  and  the  people  gath- 
ered about  me,  or  gathered  in  little  groups  to  discuss  the  won- 
ders that  their  eyes  had  witnessed  that  night.  One  after 
another  was  named  who  had  "come  over  the  line"  and  made 
the  great  surrender  that  night  to  Jesus.  And  then,  ever  and 
anon,  these  talkers  would  make  a  passing  remark  about  the 
presence  of  Big  Jim,  and  they  speculated  about  his  presence, 
and  about  the  possibility  of  his  coming  any  more.  (Dne  said : 
*'No ;  he  will  not  be  back.  He  will  swear  at  our  preacher,  and 
at  all  the  Christian  people,  nor  will  he  return  until  next  year." 
But  another  said :  "Yes ;  he  had  a  different  look  on  him  to-night 
from  what  I  have  ever  seen  before.  I  look  for  him  to  come 
again.  Never  did  I  see  him  look  as  he  looked  to-night."  And 
so  they  talked  pro  and  con.  Presently  the  preacher  slipped 
away  from  the  crowd,  for  it  was  late,  and  wended  his  way 
around  the  hillside  to  the  little  cottage,  far  removed  from 
the  camping  throngs,  where  he  might  have  quiet  and  rest, 
and  as  he  went  around  that  little  mountain  side  he  heard 
somebody  talking.  Oh,  it  was  so  earnest!  The  preacher  did 
not  mean  to  be  an  eavesdropper,  and  yet  he  seemed  chained 
in  his  very  tracks.  And  when  he  stopped  and  listened  to  that 
strange  talk,  he  discovered  in  a  moment  what  it  was,  and  that 
there  were  two  of  them,  and  that  they  were  praying,  for  one, 
who  spoke  for  the  two,  said:  "We  two,  O  Christ,  agree  we 
want  Big  Jim  saved,  that  the  mouths  of  gainsayers  may  be 
stopped  in  this  country.  They  are  saying,  O  Christ,  that  Big 
Jim  is  too  much  for  God,  that  even  God  cannot  stop  him.  They 
are  saying  that,  and  we  want  the  mouths  of  gainsayers  stopped, 
and  the  whole  land  to  know  that  Christ  is  able  to  save  even  the 
chief  of  sinners ;  and  we  two,  here  on  the  mountain  side,  late  in 
the  night,  give  thee  Big  Jim,  believing  thy  great  promise: 
*If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  anything  that 
they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is 
in  heaven.*  For  the  glory  of  Christ,  simply  and  only,  we  pray 
you,  save  Big  Jim/' 

I  went  quietly  on  my  way.    I  do  not  know  who  they  were, 
who  thus  were  praying.    I  never  knew.     I  found  my  cottage. 


38  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

and  the  night  passed,  and  the  next  day  came  and  wore  to  night- 
fall, and  I  was  again  under  the  arbor,  facing  the  mass  of 
people.  I  stood  up  to  preach  and  looked  everywhere,  but  Big 
Jim  was  not  present.  But  just  as  I  began  to  speak,  in  he  came, 
at  the  same  place  as  on  the  previous  night,  and  then  my  mes- 
sage seemed  to  fly  away,  and  I  said:  *'We  will  pause  and 
ask  God  to  give  the  preacher  what  he  ought  to  say.  He  does 
not  laiow.  He  would  speak  God's  message,  whatever  it  is, 
to-night,  and  this  man  will  lead  us  in  prayer  that  the  preacher 
may  speak  what,  and  as,  Christ  would  have  His  preacher  to- 
night to  speak."  And  the  prayer  was  finished,  and  then  the 
preacher  began  again,  and  told  simply  and  only  that  story  of 
the  prodigal  son,  the  easily  influenced,  impulsive  youth,  restless, 
dissatisfied,  who  went  away  from  home  against  the  protests  of 
wisdom  and  love,  and  took  his  part  of  the  inheritance,  and 
went  down  the  toboggan  slide  at  a  rapid  pace,  and  wasted  all 
his  substance  in  riotous  living.  And  when  his  substance  was 
gone,  his  friends  were  gone.  The  hail-fellows-well-met  of  the 
other  days  had  fled,  and  he  was  down  yonder  in  the  swine 
fields,  this  lad,  feeding  the  swine,  himself  eating  of  the  husks 
wherewith  he  fed  the  swine.  One  day,  as  the  Scriptures  tell 
the  story,  the  young  fellow  "came  to  himself."  He  saw  himself 
as  he  was.  Memory  w^as  alert,  and  the  months  and  the  years 
of  his  separation  from  home,  came  trooping  back  to  his  recol- 
lection, and  the  young  man  said :  "I  have  sinned.  I  have  missed 
it.  This  is  the  way  of  defeat  and  death.  I  will  go  back  to 
father,  and  I  will  confess  in  his  sight  and  in  God's  sight  how 
I  have  missed  it,  and  how  I  have  sinned."  And  then  he  put 
that  kindling  desire  into  effect,  that  sublime  resolution  into 
action,  and  he  betook  himself  back  the  homeward  way,  and  as 
he  came  toward  the  old  home,  the  father  saw  him,  even  from 
afar ;  the  father  was  waiting,  longing  to  see  him ;  and  down  the 
road  the  father  came,  and  put  his  arms  about  the  boy,  as  the 
boy  began  his  confession,  and  the  father  called  to  a  servant: 
"Bring  the  best  robe  for  this  boy,"  and  to  another :  "Kill  the 
fatted  calf,"  and  to  another:  "Bring  the  ring  to  put  on  this 
boy's  finger,"  emblem  of  the  love  that  never  dies.  And  there 
was  music,  and  there  was  rejoicing,  and  there  was  victory. 
That  was  all  I  said,  except  that  I  added :  "This  story  of  the 
prodigal  son  is  simply  a  picture  of  the  love  of  God,  going  out 
after  any  soul  on  earth  that  has  wandered  away  from  God, 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  39 

which  soul  God  wishes  to  forgive  and  recover  and  save,  and 
will  so  save,  if  such  soul  will  come  to  Him."  And  then  I  said : 
"Will  the  audience  remain  seated  ?  Without  any  singing  at  all, 
is  there  some  man  here  tonight,  a  prodigal,  far  from  heaven  and 
God,  who  says :  *I  want  God's  mercy,  and  I  will  honestly  yield 
myself  to  God  to  get  it,'  let  him  come  and  take  my  hand." 

Would  you  believe  it  ?    Big  Jim  started.    Oh,  the  sight,  the 
sight,  the  sight !    And  presently  the  men  saw  him  coming,  and 
hundreds  of  sobbing  men  stood  to  their  feet,  and  sobbed  aloud, 
and  as  he  came  down  the  aisle  slowly,  for  it  was  with  difficulty 
he  walked,  hundreds  of  men  joined  him,  and  came  down  with 
him.    And  when  at  last  he  got  to  me  and  took  my  hand,  he  said : 
**Sir,  I  put  you  on  your  sacred  honor,  will  the  Great  Master 
save  me,  if  I  will  give  up  to  Him?"  And  I  said:    "Sir,  on  my 
sacred  honor,  I  declare  that  He  will,  if  you  will  just  honestly 
surrender  your  case  to  Him."    And  the  men  put  in  v^^ith  voices, 
scores  and  scores :  "It  is  so,  Jim.    We  made  the  surrender  and 
He  saved  us.    You  make  it,  and  you  will  find  out  for  yourself."' 
And  then  again,  waiting  a  moment,  he  looked  at  me,  still  hold- 
ing my  hand,  and  said :  "I  want  you  to  remember,  sir,  that  you 
are  speaking  to  the  worst  man  out  of  perdition.     Would  the 
IMaster  save  a  man  like  that,  if  he  would  give  up  to  Him?"    I 
said:   "Sir,  on  my  Master's  own  statement,  I  declare  to  you 
that  He  will  save  you,  even  if  you  are  the  chief  sinner  out  of 
perdition,  if  you  will  honestly  surrender  to  Him."    And  they 
punctuated  my  remark  with  a  chorus :    "It  is  so,  Jim.    Try  it 
and  you  will  find  out."    Once  again  he  looked  at  me  and  then 
he  said,  finally:   "Sir,  when  would  the  Great  Master  save  me, 
if  I  should  give  up  to  Him  right  now?"  And  I  said:  "Sir,  on 
His  own  word,  which  many  of  us  have  proved,  our  Great 
Master  will  save  you,  and  your  heart  shall  know  that  your 
sins  are  forgiven,  right  now,  if  right  now  you  will  honestly 
surrender  to  Him."    And  then  he  turned  that  big  bronzed  face 
upward,  as  if  looking  for  the  Master  himself,  and  he  gasped 
out  his  prayer,  just  this:    "Lord  Jesus,  the  worst  man  in  the 
world  gives  up  to  you  right  now." 

OH,  I  cannot  tell  the  rest!  I  do  not  think  the  angds  could 
tell  the  rest.  I  think  if  the  archangel  himsdf  should  come  down 
from  those  starry  heights,  that  the  words  of  that  angel  would 
be  inadequate  to  tell  you  the  rest.     God  unloosed  Big  Jim's 


40  A'  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

tongue,  and  he  began  to  talk,  and  then  the  old  men  kissed  him, 
and  the  old  women  kissed  him,  and  the  young  men  kissed  him, 
and  the  young  women  kissed  him,  for  the  chief  of  sinners  had 
been  saved. 

What  is  there  wonderful  about  such  a  story?  Not  a  thing 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  if  you  will  grant  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
divine,  and  that  He  came  in  the  flesh  to  save  sinners,  and  that 
His  divine  grace  is  mightier  than  any  human  sin,  however 
long-continued  and  however  heinous.  O  men  and  women,  you 
and  I  limit  God  because  of  our  unfaith  with  respect  to  aged 
and  hardened  and  difficult  and  preoccupied  cases  that  are  all 
around  us. 

But  there  is  another  word  for  me  to  bring  you.  How  may 
we  strengthen  our  faith  ?  That  is  what  you  and  I  wish  to  know. 
How  may  you  and  I  strengthen  our  faith  ?  I  have  two  or  three 
simple  suggestions.  First,  if  we  would  strengthen  our  faith, 
we  need  to  make  it  a  matter  of  prayer.  I  read  you  the  passage 
of  Scripture  telling  of  a  group  of  men  who  failed  in  their  faith, 
and  when  they  got  Jesus  alone  they  said:  "Why  was  it  we 
failed?"  Mark  His  answer:  "This  kind  can  come  forth  by 
nothing,  but  by  prayer."  If  you  are  not  a  man  of  prayer,  you 
are  not  a  man  of  faith.  If  you  are  not  a  woman  of  prayer,  you 
are  not  a  woman  of  faith.  The  men  and  women  who  do  not 
tread  the  secret  path  of  prayer  aie  men  and  women  spiritless 
and  broken  and  without  faith.  If  you  and  I  would  have 
conquering  faith,  then  you  and  I  must  make  it  a  matter  of 
constant  prayer.  Once  "vvhen  Jesus  gave  His  disciples  a 
great  task  to  accomplish,  they  cried  back  unto  Him :  "Lord, 
if  you  expect  that  of  us,  increase  our  faith."  And  so  you  and 
I  are  to  come  to  Him,  saying :  "If  you  expect  this,  or  that, 
or  the  other  great  achievement,  even  the  achievement  of 
winning  some  poor  soul,  bedarkened  and  blinded  by  sin, 
away  from  such  dreadful  path,  to  God,  then  increase  our 
faith." 

How  may  our  faith  be  increased?  If  it  is  to  be  increased, 
then  let  us  plead  the  promises  of  God.  Oh,  how  great  a 
privilege  to  plead  the  promises  of  God !  Of  old,  one  had  a  way 
of  talking  to  God  like  this:  "Do  as  thou  hast  said."  And 
when  you  and  I  come  to  pray,  we  need  to  fill  our  mouths 
with  arguments  to  God,  and  those  arguments  are  His  own 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  41 

promises.  "Lord  Jesus,  here  is  what  thou  hast  said,  and  we 
plead  that.  We  fill  our  mouth  with  thine  own  argument, 
and  we  plead  that  before  thy  face.  Do  as  thou  hast  said. 
Do  as  thou  hast  said."  What  if  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
these  men  and  women  before  me,  should  go  apart  in  groups 
of  two,  and  should  say:  "Lord  Jesus,  here  is  a  case,  O, 
so  difficult,  speaking  after  the  fashion  of  men,  so  difficult, 
so  hopeless,  but  not  at  all  difficult  and  hopeless  if  God  will 
take  charge  of  the  case,  and,  therefore,  we  two  take  up  thy 
promise,  where  thou  sayest:  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on 
earth,  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done 
for  them  of  my  Father  in  heaven.'  Do  as  thou  hast  said.  We 
plead  this  promise,  and  rest  on  it.    Do  as  thou  hast  said." 

How  are  we  to  strengthen  our  faith?    I  have  still  another 
word.    If  we  are  to  strengthen  our  faith,  then  we  are  to  seek 
the  guidance  and  power  of  God's  Divine  Spirit.    In  this  divinest 
work  of  all,  the  work  of  winning  souls  to  Christ,  all  along  we 
are  to  seek  the  guidance  and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.    Oh, 
how  wonderful  is  His  guidance,  and  how  marvelous  is  His 
power!    He  does  guide  His  people.    There  is  such  a  thing  as 
being  led  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  in  this  divinest  work  of  all, 
the  work  of  winning  souls,  we  shall  miss  it  utterly  and  be 
marplots,  if  we  are  not  guided  and  empowered  by  the  Spirit 
of  God.    The  Spirit  of  God  does  teach,  guide  and  empower  the 
servants  of  Jesus,  in  this  holiest  task  of  all,  this  work  of  win- 
ning souls  to  Christ.    "When  He  is  come,"  Jesus  has  promised 
it,  "He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth."    "Ye  shall  receive  power, 
after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you :  and  ye  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."  O  brothers 
mine,  you  and  I,  with  all  humility  and  earnestness,  want  to  ask 
God  to  guide  us  in  this  work  we  are  in,  and  to  give  us  His 
own  wisdom  and  power  at  every  step  that  we  take. 

Come,  Holy  Spirit,  heavenly  dove. 

With  all  thy  quickening  powers; 
Come,  shed  abroad  a   Savior's  love. 

And  that  shall  kindle  ours. 

You  and  I  want  the  guidance  and  the  power  of  the  Divme 
Spirit  in  this  heavenly  task  to  which  we  are  these  days,  please 
God.  to  put  our  hands. 


*2  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

V/onderful,  how  wonderful,  is  God's  leadership  by  His 
Spirit  and  His  power,  when  we  yield  ourselves  to  Him !  How 
wonderful  it  is !  A  few  years  ago,  I  was  in  Minneapolis,  that 
beautiful  city  of  the  Northwest,  at  one  of  the  Bible  conferences 
for  the  Northwestern  states,  speaking  there  daily  for  some 
two  weeks,  and  it  was  my  privilege,  while  there,  to  have  daily 
fellowship  with  that  nobly  gifted  preacher,  Wayland  Hoyt, 
one  of  the  first  preachers  of  his  generation.  I  had  heard  of 
an  incident  in  his  life,  and  I  asked  him  about  it,  and  he 
confirmed  it.  This  was  the  incident:  Dr.  Hoyt  had  prepared 
with  unusual  care  in  the  other  years  a  special  sermon,  hoping 
to  reach  one  of  the  first  citizens  in  his  city  on  a  certain  Sunday 
night,  with  that  same  sermon.  This  citizen  was  an  outstand- 
ing citizen,  but  not  a  Christian,  and  rarely  came  to  church.  The 
wife  was  a  devoted  Christian  and  church  member.  So  at  the 
Sunday  morning  service  Mr.  Hoyt  signalled  quietly  to  the  wife, 
and  sent  by  her  a  message  to  the  distinguished  husband :  "Tell 
him  that  I  ask  specially  that  he  will  come  to-night.  I  have  pre- 
pared a  sermon,  hoping  earnestly  to  help  him.  Tell  him  I  ask 
him  to  come,  I  wish  him  to  come."  The  wife  gave  the  mes- 
sage when  she  reached  home,  and  the  husband  went  to  the  tele- 
phone—he was  a  gentleman  in  every  instinct  and  habit  of  his 
life— and  took  down  the  receiver  and  called  the  minister  and 
gave  the  minister  his  grateful  thanks  for  his  cordial  invitation, 
saying:  'Certainly,  I  will  be  there  to-night  How  kindly, 
how  considerate  of  you  to  be  so  Interested  In  me.  Certainly,  I 
will  be  there  to  hear  you."  But  before  the  nightfall  came  a 
blinding  storm  filled  the  heavens,  and  the  floods  poured  out  of 
the  clouds,  and  the  people  could  not  gather.  Only  a  little  hand- 
ful hard  by  the  church  could  gather  at  all.  The  minister  made 
his  way  to  the  church  and  spoke  to  the  little  handful,  but  the 
one  citizen  he  had  thought  about  and  specially  prepared  for 
was  not  there.  The  minister  went  home  with  his  heart  heavy, 
and  he  sat  there  late  and  long  in  his  library  that  Sunday  night, 
and  he  fell  to  musing  like  this :  "What  a  poor  out  I  am  making 
reaching  that  man !"  And  then  something  said  to  him:  "Why 
don't  you  Imitate  your  Master  and  go  to  the  man  and  preach 
your  sermon  to  just  one  man,  as  Jesus  after  nightfall  preached 
His  sermon  on  the  new  birth  to  Nicodemus,  that  fine  citizen  of 
old?  Why  don't  you  walk  in  the  steps  of  your  Master  and 
preach  your  best  sermon  to  one  man?"    And  that  suggestion 


WHERE  IS  YOUR  FAITH?  43 

fairly  boomed  like  a  cannon  in  his  ears  and  heart.  He  looked 
at  his  watch.  It  was  midnight.  He  said :  "Why,  I  could  not 
f o  this  late  at  night."  And  he  sat,  still  thinking  further,  and 
something  seemed  to  say  to  him,  did  say  to  him :  "If  you  knew 
that  that  man's  house  was  in  danger,  or  that  his  family  were  in 
danger,  you  would  brave  any  sort  of  weather,  to  help  them. 
Though  the  storm  beat  down  the  avenue,  you  would  breast  it, 
to  go  and  apprise  him  of  the  danger.  Why  won't  you  be  con- 
sistent about  the  biggest,  most  important  thing  of  all?"  And 
then  Dr.  Hoyt  said  he  found  himself  putting  on  his  raincoat. 
He  opened  the  door  and  breasted  the  great  storm  that  still 
swept  down  the  avenue.  Block  after  block  he  trudged  his  way 
through  the  blinding  storm.  He  said  he  found  himself  talking 
to  himself,  saying  to  himself:  "Maybe,  the  man  will  say  I  am 
crazy.  Maybe  I  am,  but  God  knows  I  am  trying  to  do  the 
consistent  thing."  Presently  he  came  to  the  right  house,  and 
as  he  came  toward  it  there  was  a  light  in  one  of  the  lower 
rooms,  and  he  came  up  softly  to  the  door,  and  knocked  gently, 
not  caring  to  disturb  the  household  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  in  a  moment  the  door  opened,  and  there  standing 
was  the  citizen,  who  had  not  been  in  bed  at  all,  and  out  into  the 
storm  and  the  night  the  big  citizen  thrust  his  arms  and  drew 
Wayland  Hoyt  out  of  the  night  and  out  of  the  storm,  and  drew 
him  to  his  heart,  and  sobbed  over  him  as  a  mother  would  sob 
over  her  children,  saying  to  him :  "Thank  God,  Mr.  Hoyt,  He 
sent  you  here  to  teach  me  how  to  be  saved.  I  have  been  there 
in  my  library,  reading  the  Bible  and  trying  to  pray.  That  word 
you  sent  me  waked  me  up  and  stirred  my  heart.  The  storm 
kept  me  from  going  to  church,  but  I  could  not  sleep.  I  have 
been  there  reading  the  Bible  and  trying  to  pray,  but  it  is  all 
dark  to  me.  Jesus  sent  you  to  teach  me."  And  Wayland 
Hoyt  told  me  that  in  five  minutes  his  interested  citizen  was 
rejoicing  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  What  if  Wayland  Hoyt 
had  not  gone  ?  God  pity  me  and  you  maybe,  as  time  and  again 
your  heart  ached  with  a  longing  inexpressible  for  some  lost 
soul,  but  you  said :  "I  am  unworthy.  I  am  incompetent.  I  am 
unfit."  And  you  deadened  your  impression,  and  you  went  your 
way,  and  such  soul  went  his  way,  and  maybe  has  gone  into 
eternity  ere  this  Tuesday  night.  Oh,  seek  the  guidance  of 
God's  Spirit  for  this  task,  and  then  follow  Him ! 


44  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

We  are  going  in  a  moment,  for  my  message  is  done.  I 
have  a  question  to  ask  you,  and  you  will  answer  it  candidly. 
This  is  the  question:  Is  there  somebody  in  Fort  Worth  that 
you  wish  to  be  saved  ?  Is  there  somebody  in  Fort  Worth  that 
you  wish  to  be  saved  during  these  meetings,  in  which  our  appeal 
shall  be  made  to  men's  judgments  and  men's  consciences?  I 
have  no  respect  for  any  other  kind  of  appeal  in  the  name  of 
Christ's  holy  religion.  Bethink  you  now — is  there  somebody 
that  you  wish  to  see  saved  during  these  midsummer  days, 
set  aside  for  some  special  meetings  to  help  the  people  in  the 
highest  matters  of  all?  Every  Christian  present  who  says: 
"Yes ;  there  is  one,  or  there  are  some,  that  I  wish  to  see  saved, 
and  by  my  standing  I  voice  my  wish,  and  ask  you  and  ask 
others  present  who  pray,  to  join  me  in  prayer  for  these  name- 
less ones  that  my  heart  thinks  about,  in  these  closing  moments 
of  this  service,"  stand  to  your  feet.  Is  there  some  person  or 
persons  whom  you  would  see  saved  during  these  meetings,  for 
whom  you  would  have  us  to  unite  our  prayers  this  night,  and 
from  day  to  day,  that  light  and  leading  from  God  may  be 
vouchsafed  unto  them  that  they  may  be  saved?  Does  my  call 
apply  to  others?  Every  man  and  woman  who  says:  "That 
represents  my  heart's  earnest  desire,"  stand  to  your  feet.  Many 
have  risen.  Many  persons  are  evidently  now  in  your  thoughts. 
The  Lord  teach  us  to  pray  for  them  as  we  ought ! 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

We  go  now,  our  Father,  at  the  close  of  this  service,  appealing  to  thee  that 
thy  truth,  by  the  power  of  thy  Spirit,  may  be  written  in  our  deepest  con- 
sciences. O,  forgive  us  for  our  little  faith,  for  our  miserable  unfaith.^  This  night 
we  would  draw  nigh  to  God.  We  would  pay  the  price  for  power  with  God  and 
for  Him,  wherever  that  would  lead  us,  and  whatever  that  would  cost  us.  Whether 
by  death  or  by  life,  we  would  do  God's  will.  Behold  the  men  and  women  who 
have  risen  to  their  feet  to  say  that  tHey  are  thinking  of  one,  or  thinking  of  more 
than  one,  whom  they  long  to  see  saved  during  these  midsummer  days,  in  the 
special  daily  meetings.  O  God,  fit  us  to  speak  as  we  ought  to  the  people  all 
about  us  concerning  Jesus.  Would  it  please  thee  for  those  now  praying  to  pour 
forth  their  personal  appeal  to  some  soul  thought  about  and  prayed  for  right  now? 
Then  let  the  right  person  go  to  such  soul  and  speak  God's  Word,  however  tim- 
idly. And  even  though  with  confession,  first  of  'all,  for  waywardness  personal, 
and  inconsistency  of  life,  and  incongruity  of  temper,  yet  may  the  soul  who  loves 
Christ  and  loves  the  soul  of  the  one  thought  about  and  prayed  for  right  now,  go 
te  such  soul  and  speak  as  Christ  would  have  the  word  spoken,  to  guide  such 
soul  out  of  the  darkness  and  into  the  light.  Holy  Spirit  Divine,  thou  Great 
Revealer  of  Jesus,  come  thou  and  teach  us  and  lead  us,  and  enable  us  hour  by 
hour,  in  our  talk,  in  our  visits,  by  the  use  of  the  'phone,  by  the  letter,  and  in 
the  secret  places,  when  we  bare  our  very  souls  before  God  in  prayer,  to  behave 
ourselves  in  such  a  fashion  that  Christ  with  smiling  face  shall  look  on  us,  and 
with  blessed  lips  shall  say  to  us:  "I  am  well  pleased." 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  may  the  blessing  of  God,  even  of  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Spirit,  whom  we  worship  as  one  God,  be  granted  you  all  and  each,  to 
abide  with  you  forevermore.     Amen. 


NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  13,  1917. 
THE  THREEFOLD  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE. 

Text:  "Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  to  liave  apprehended:  but  this  one  thing 
I  do,  forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto  those 
things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in   Christ  Jesus."— Phil.  3;  13,  14. 

Somebody  has  well  said  that  "the  proper  study  of  mankind 
is  man."  The  study  of  biography,  therefore,  is  always  a  most 
fascinating  and  helpful  study.  Everybody  who  is  normal  is 
interested  keenly  in  the  lives  of  people  who  have  succeeded. 
We  would  know  all  that  we  may  about  them,  about  their 
beginnings,  their  struggles,  their  habits,  about  their  viewpoint 
in  life.  This  morning  I  would  direct  your  attention  for  a  little 
while  to  the  most  remarkable  Christian  of  the  centuries,  namely, 
the  Apostle  Paul.  He  was,  and  is,  the  greatest  single  credential 
that  Christ's  gospel  has  ever  produced.  One  day,  in  writing  to 
his  favorite  church,  the  Philippian  church,  in  a  burst  of  confi- 
dence, it  would  seem,  he  lets  us  into  the  secret  of  his  marvelous 
life,  and  we  are  to  study  that  threefold  secret  for  a  little  while 
this  morning.    Mark  his  words : 

This  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching 
forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize 
of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  those  words,  this  greatest  of  all  Christians  states  the 
three-fold  secret  of  his  incomparable  life,  and  we  will  do  well 
to  look  at  that  threefold  secret  today.  The  first  element  in  it 
is  the  element  of  whole-hearted  concentration.  "This  one 
thing  I  do" — not  a  dozen  things,  not  even  two  things,  but  "this 
one  thing  I  do."  No  life  can  be  very  great,  or  very  happy,  or 
very  useful,  without  this  element  of  concentration.    Every  one 

45 


46  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

should  have  a  work  to  do,  and  know  what  it  is,  and  do  it  with 
all  his  might.  Decision  is  energy,  and  energy  is  power,  and 
power  is  confidence,  and  confidence  to  a  remarkable  degree 
contributes  to  success.  Many  a  man  in  life  has  failed,  not 
from  lack  of  ability,  but  from  lack  of  this  element  of  con- 
centration. The  whole  world  is  witness  to  its  power.  Turn  to 
any  realm  that  you  will,  and  the  vital  meaning  of  concentration 
stands  out  in  all  human  life,  after  the  most  striking  fashion. 

Take  the  business  world,  and  the  element  of  concentration 
there  is  of  prime  importance,  if  success  is  to  be  achieved.  The 
very  watchwords  in  the  business  world  magnify  this  element  of 
concentration.  They  talk  to  us  about  specialization  and  con- 
solidation, and  incorporation,  and  on  and  on,  giving  emphasis 
in  all  such  words  to  the  meaningful  quality  of  concentration. 
A  short  time  ago  one  of  the  world's  most  successful  business 
men  was  waited  upon  by  a  group  of  young  men,  who  sought 
his  counsel  about  how  to  succeed,  and  he  gave  them  this  laconic 
advice :  "Young  gentlemen,  get  all  your  eggs  into  one  basket, 
and  then  watch  that  basket."  It  was  his  way  of  giving  emphasis 
to  the  tremendous  value  of  concentration.  The  day  for  the 
jack-of-all-trades  has  passed.  A  man  must  do  one  thing  and 
do  it  with  all  his  might.  The  professional  man  understands 
that.  The  lawyer  who  is  minded  to  reach  the  topmost  rung  of 
his  high  calling  sets  himself  with  all  diligence  and  devotedness 
to  that  calling,  and  does  not  dissipate  his  energies  on  a  half 
dozen  other  callings,  as  in  the  other  days  men  sometimes  did. 
The  physician  understands  that.  The  day  of  the  specialist  has 
come.  The  teacher  understands  that.  In  all  the  world  about 
us  men  understand  that  this  winning  element,  stated  by  Paul 
as  the  first  element,  humanly  speaking,  of  his  marvelous  career, 
is  indispensable  to  success,  namely,  the  power  of  concentration 
— "this  one  thing  I  do." 

And  when  we  turn  to  the  world  of  science,  and  look  at  the 
notable  scientists,  that  truth  of  concentration  seems  to  be 
written  in  their  lives  as  with  letters  of  living  fire.  Edison  with 
all  devotedness  concentrates  his  energies  in  the  realm  of  elec- 
tricity, and  is  constantly  surprising  the  world  by  his  marvelous 
discoveries.  And  the  Wright  brothers,  with  all  their  devoted- 
ness, gave  themselves  to  the  mastery  of  the  secrets  of  the  air, 
and  constantly  surprised  us  by  their  revelations. 


THE  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  47 

When  we  come  to  the  highest  realm  of  all — the  realm  relig- 
ious— ^this  element  of  concentration  there  holds  sway  just  as  in 
these  other  realms.  No  man  can  serve  two  masters.  One  must 
be  our  Master,  and  Jesus  stands  above  all  mankind  and  says : 
*'If  you  would  be  my  disciple,  then  I  tell  you  I  must  come  first. 
I  must  come  before  father  or  mother,  or  the  dearest  loved  one 
of  your  life.  I  must  come  before  your  own  business,  or  your 
own  property.  I  must  come  before  your  own  life.  I  must  be 
Lord  of  all,  or  I  will  not  be  Lord  at  all." 

Now,  you  would  not  trust  your  soul's  eternal  welfare  to  a 
proffered  Savior  who  would  ask  or  allow  an3rthing  less  than 
that  He  should  be  first.  "Ye  shall  seek  me  and  find  me,  when 
ye  search  for  me  with  your  whole  heart."  I  care  not  what  may 
be  a  man's  difficulties  or  doubts  in  the  world  religious,  if  only 
such  man,  with  definiteness  of  purpose,  with  whole-heartedness 
of  aim,  shall  set  himself  to  seek  God's  light  and  leading,  I  know 
that  he  will  find  Him.  "In  the  day  that  thou  seekest  me  with 
thy  whole  heart,  I  will  be  found  of  thee."  Many  a  Christian 
man  follows  Christ  afar  off,  and  limps  and  grovels  in  the 
Christian  life,  because  he  is  seeking  to  adjust  himself  in  life 
to  giving  Christ  some  secondary  place,  and  Christ  will  not  have 
it.  Concentration  is  a  prime  requisite  in  the  victorious  life 
anywhere. 

In  the  second  place  the  great  Christian  leads  us  to  the  con- 
sideration of  a  second  secret  explanatory  of  his  marvelous 
career,  and  that  is  that  he  cultivated  a  wise  forgetfulness  of  the 
past.  It  rings  like  a  trumpet  blast  in  this  Bible  that  we  are  to 
remember  certain  things  that  we  ought  to  remember.  That  word 
"remember"  rings  out  like  a  bugle  blast,  again  and  again  in  the 
Bible.  But  along  with  the  factor  of  wisely  remembering  there 
is  to  go  that  other  important  factor  of  wisely  forgetting.  Many 
a  man  goes  hobbled  and  crippled  through  life  and  never  does 
come  to  the  highest  and  best,  because  he  cannot  forget  certain 
things  that  ought  to  be  forgotten  by  him. 

And  what  are  some  of  the  things  that  we  ought  every  one 
to  forget  ?  Let  me  run  over  a  brief  list.  We  ought  every  one 
to  learn  how  practically  to  forget  our  blunders.  What  blun- 
derers we  all  are,  and  how  many  blunders  we  all  make !  Every 
man  must  learn  how  to  forget  his  own  blunders,  or  he  will  go 
manacled  and  crippled  to  his  grave.    The  old  saying  comes  in 


48  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

point  right  clearly,  that  "the  best  of  men  are  but  men  at  the 
best."  We  are  to  learn,  therefore,  how  to  forget  our  blunders. 
Ebenezer  was  a  field  of  defeat  before  it  rang  with  the  songs  of 
victory.  We  are  to  learn  how  to  take  our  very  blunders  and 
make  them  bridges  over  which  we  shall  span  the  chasms  and 
go  to  better  days. 

And  what  else  are  we  to  learn  how  to  forget?  We  are  to 
learn  how  to  forget  our  losses.  In  human  life  losses  of  all 
kinds  come  more  or  less  in  our  experiences.  We  are  to  learn 
how  to  get  past  them,  and  practically  to  forget  them.  I  have 
observed  no  more  painfully  tragical  sight  than  a  strong,  alert 
man,  down  in  spirit,  singing  his  dirges  and  chanting  his  jere- 
miads because  he  had  lost  some  property.  I  am  thinking  now 
of  a  man  whose  property  burned  up  a  day  or  two  after  the 
insurance  had  expired,  and  all  was  a  total  loss,  and  there  he 
was  without  property  at  all,  in  the  gray  of  that  early  morning, 
and  with  his  face  in  his  hands  he  kept  chanting  the  pitiful  cry: 
"I  have  lost  all !"  Presently  his  tiny  little  girl,  of  four  or  five 
summers,  came  to  him,  all  puzzled,  and  said :  "Why,  no,  papa, 
you  have  not  lost  all.  You  have  me  and  mamma  left !"  And 
it  took  that  to  summon  him  and  to  hearten  him  and  to  bring 
him  back  to  sobriety  and  to  right-thinking.  No  man  is  to 
whine  and  mope  and  go  down  because  losses  come  here  and 
there  and  yonder.  But,  he  is  to  learn  how  to  get  past  them  and 
to  forget  them. 

What  else  are  we  to  forget?  We  are  to  learn  how  to  forget 
life's  injuries.  It  would  seem  that  in  this  world  of  ours  with 
its  rivalries  and  competitions  and  frictions  and  alienations,  it  is 
difficult  to  get  past  the  injuries  that  come  in  human  life.  And 
yet  I  tell  you,  my  brother  men,  if  for  any  cause  you  are  cherish- 
ing hate  in  your  heart,  then  3^ou  have  lost  the  highest  perspec- 
tive of  life,  and  cannot  have  the  highest  perspective  of  life  as 
long  as  the  poison  of  hate  is  allowed  in  your  heart  and  in  your 
life.  A  man  is  terribly  hindered  and  has  around  him  a  ball  and 
a  chain,  if  in  his  heart  he  cherishes  something  that  says:  "I 
will  lie  awake  at  nights,  and  I  will  turn  many  a  corner,  and  I 
will  await  my  day,  to  get  even  with  some  man  for  some  cruel 
dart  that  he  throws  at  me."  Big  men  do  not  hate.  Big  men 
do  not  cherish  resentments.  Big  men  put  them  down  and  out, 
and  go  their  way,  and  refuse  to  harbor  them.    They  refuse  to 


THE  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  49 

let  them  rankle  like  poisons  in  the  heart,  thus  to  vitiate  every 
high  thing  that  the  spirit  should  hold  most  dear. 

What  else  are  we  to  forget?  We  are  to  learn  how  to 
forget  our  successes.  More  men  have  been  spoiled  by  suc- 
cess than  you  and  I  can  begin  to  measure.  There  is  danger  in 
success,  anywhere,  for  any  man.  If  a  man  can  bear  success, 
he  can  bear  anything.  Easier  far  can  the  human  spirit  bear 
adversity  than  it  can  bear  prosperity.  It  is  better  any  day 
to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning  than  to  the  house  of  feasting, 
for  in  the  house  of  feasting  the  human  spirit  is  lifted  up,  and 
pride  always  goes  before  destruction,  and  a  haughty  spirit 
always  goes  before  a  fall.  When  Uzziah  of  old  came  to  his 
day  of  remarkable  prosperity,  then  it  was  that  the  Bible  tells 
us  his  heart  was  lifted  up  to  destruction.  The  history  of  the 
rich  American  family  stands  out  like  a  mountain  range,  that 
every  third  generation  of  such  family  goes  to  defeat  and  failure 
and  poverty.  The  first  generation  wins  success,  the  second 
generation  spends  it,  and  the  third  generation  goes  the  down- 
ward way  to  poverty  and  failure.  We  are  to  learn  how  to 
forget  our  successes.  If  a  man  does  not  learn  what  success  is 
for — any  kind  of  success,  financial  success,  political  success, 
social  success,  intellectual  success,  any  kind  of  success — if  he 
does  not  learn  what  it  is  for,  the  day  comes  for  his  undoing  and 
his  downfall  and  his  defeat. 

What  else  are  we  to  forget  ?  We  are  to  learn  how  to  forget 
our  sorrows — and  sooner  or  later  these  sorrows  come  to  us, 
each  and  all.  We  are  to  learn  how  to  forget  them.  When  the 
sorrows  come,  we  are  to  learn  how  to  take  these  sorrows  to  the 
great,  refining,  overruling  Master,  and  ask  Him  so  to  dispose, 
so  to  rule  and  overrule  in  them  and  with  them  that  we  may 
come  out  of  them  all  refined  and  disciplined,  the  better  educated 
and  more  useful,  because  of  such  sorrows.  They  tell  us  that 
when  you  break  the  oyster's  shell  at  a  certain  place  it  will  go 
somewhere  into  the  deep  and  find  a  pearl  and  mend  that  broken 
place  in  its  shell  with  a  beautiful  pearl.  Even  so,  when  your 
sorrow  in  life  comes,  you  are  to  learn  how  to  take  that  sorrow, 
and  so  have  it  woven  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  your  life  that 
you  shall  not  be  weaker  and  worse  for  the  sorrow,  but  shall 
be  richer  and  stronger  and  better,  because  of  such  sorrow. 
Read  every  now  and  then  the  polished  essay  of  Emerson  on 


50  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

"Compensation."  Running  all  through  this  world  is  that  clear 
principle  of  compensation.  The  Bible  recognizes  it :  "For  our 
light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  We  are  to 
lay  to  heart  that  sublimest  truth  that  "all  things  work  together 
for  good  to  them  that  love  God."  Yonder  in  the  asylum  for 
the  deaf  and  dumb  a  visitor  went  one  day,  and  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  asylum  said:  "Let  me  show  you  how  bright 
these  little  children  are,  even  though  they  are  deaf  and  dumb. 
Ask  any  question  you  will,"  said  the  superintendent .  to  the 
visitor.  "Write  your  question  there  on  the  board,  and  see  the 
answers  that  these  little  mutes  will  give  to  your  question."  He 
asked  question  after  question,  did  this  visitor.  After  awhile 
he  asked  a  cruel  question.  I  wonder  how  he  could  have  done 
k.  He  wrote  this  cruel  question  there  on  the  board:  "If 
God  loved  you,  why  did  He  make  you  deaf  and  dumb?"  Then 
the  little  things  bowed  their  shoulders  and  sobbed  for  a  mo- 
ment with  almost  uncontrollable  emotion,  and  presently  a  little 
tiny  girl  came  from  out  her  seat  there,  and  went  to  the  black- 
board, and  wrote  under  that  question  these  wonderful  words 
of  Jesus:  "Even  so,  Father;  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy 
sight."  Wasn't  it  glorious?  You  and  I  are  to  take  our  sor- 
rows, our  black  Fridays,  our  lone  and  long  nights,  and  we  are 
to  come  to  Him  and  say:  "Manage  thou  these,  thou  won- 
drous Friend,  who  canst  turn  the  very  night  into  morning; 
manage  these  for  me."  And  we  are  to  sing  with  Whittier, 
when  he  sang: 

*'I   know  not   where   Hts   islands   lift 

Their  fronded  palms  in  air; 
But  this  I  know,   I  cannot  drift 

Beyond  His  love  and  care." 

What  else  are  we  to  forget  ?  We  are  to  learn  how  to  forget 
our  sins.  If  Paul  had  not  learned  how  to  forget  his  sins  he 
would  have  been  crippled  utterly  clear  to  his  death.  Paul  con- 
sented to  the  death  of  Stephen.  Paul  persecuted  the  church. 
Paul  was  a  ring-leader  in  sin.  Paul  seemed  to  run  the  whole 
gamut  of  sin.  He  called  himself  "the  chief  of  sinners,"  and 
perhaps  he  was.  If  Paul  had  not  learned  how  to  forget  those 
awful  sins  that  mastered  him  back  yonder,  if  he  had  not  learned 
how  to  get  past  them,  then  he  would  have  gone  with  accusing 
conscience  and  broken  spirit  clear  to  his  grave.  We  shall  have 
about  us  a  ball  and  a  chain,  and  shall  go  groveling  and  despair- 


THE  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  51 

ing  and  defeated,  if  we  do  not  learn  how  to  forget  our  sins. 
When  we  look  at  the  debit  side  of  our  life,  do  our  hearts  faint 
within  us?  Mine  faints  within  me.  But  then  the  Master  of 
life  summons  me  and  says :  "Come  over  here  and  look  at  the 
credit  side,  and  the  credit  side  will  outfigure  all  that  debit 
side."  And  when  I  come  over  there  I  say  to  Him:  "What 
dost  thou  mean,  oh,  thou  gracious  Friend?"  Listen  to  Him, 
and  He  tells  us :  "Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound."  Listen  to  Him  again :  "As  far  as  the  east  is  from 
the  west,  so  far  hath  He  removed  our  transgressions  from  us." 
And  listen  to  Him  yet  again:  "I  have  put  your  sins  behind 
my  back.  I  have  drowned  them  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  I 
will  remember  them  against  you  no  more  forever."  Oh,  isn't 
that  wonderful?  Listen  to  Him  again  and  He  tells  us:  "The 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."- 
When  Satan  comes  with  his  accusing  cry,  reminding  me  6£ 
my  weakness  and  my  frailty  and  my  transgressions  and  my 
proneness  to  sin  and  all  that,  he  can  make  out  his  case,  I  grant 
it,  but  I  come  back  and  say  to  him:  "But,  sir,  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  has  much  more  abounded,  and  in  Christ, 
whose  name  is  Jesus,  I  have  victory,  even  over  my  sins." 
"Thou  shalt  call  His  name  Jesus,  for  He  shall  save  His  people 
from  their  sins."  We  have  a  real  Savior  from  sin  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  when  we  trust  Him,  no  more  are  we  to  go  hobbled> 
with  ball  and  chain,  because  of  sin,  because  Christ  becomes  our 
personal  Savior  from  both  the  penalty  and  power  of  sin. 

Years  ago,  in  South  Texas,  there  was  a  little  home  in  the 
country  burned  down,  and  before  the  neighbors  could  rescue 
the  family  all  were  burned  to  death  save  one  little  girl,  some 
nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  and  she  was  badly  burned  on  one 
side  of  her  face  and  little  body.  The  rest  were  all  burned  to 
death.  The  neighbors,  after  a  few  days,  when  they  had  con- 
sulted, sent  little  Mary  to  the  far-famed  Buckner  Orphans 
Home.  They  advised  the  noble  head  of  that  home  when  little 
Mary  would  come,  on  what  train,  and  there  good  Dr.  Buckner 
was  waiting  for  her,  of  course.  When  she  got  off  the  train, 
her  little  eyes  were  red  from  weeping,  and  she  seemed  intuitive- 
ly to  know  that  he  was  her  protector  henceforth,  and  she 
started  toward  him  saying:  "Is  this  Mr.  Buckner?"  He  said: 
"Yes,  and  is  this  little  Mary?"    And  then  she  came  and  laid 


52  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

her  littk  head  up  against  his  knee,  and  sobbed  with  indiscriba- 
ble  emotion,  and  looked  up  at  last  with  that  little  burned  face 
and  said:  "You  will  have  to  be  my  papa  and  mamma  both." 
He  said :  "I  will,  the  best  I  can,  Mary."  And  then  she  went  into 
the  Home,  and  was  looked  after  along  with  those  hundreds  of 
children.  I  have  been  there  time  and  again  and  preached  to 
them,  and  I  have  seen  them  come  out  to  greet  him  when  he 
would  return  to  them,  after  an  absence.  The  little  tots  come 
down  the  avenue,  and  vie  with  one  another  as  they  swing 
around  him,  each  wishing  to  kiss  him  first.  Along  in  that  group 
one  day  came  the  little  burned-faced  Mary,  and  the  little  chil- 
dren kissed  him  as  was  their  wont,  but  little  Mary  stood  off, 
several  feet  away,  and  looked  across  her  shoulder,  watching 
the  whole  affair,  sobbing  like  her  heart  would  break.  And 
when  these  little  ones  had  kissed  the  good  man,  he  looked 
across  to  her  and  said :  *'Mary,  why  don't  you  come  and  kiss 
me?"  That  was  entirely  too  much  for  her  and  she  sobbed 
aloud,  and  then  he  went  over  and  touched  her  little  chin  and 
lifted  it  up  and  said:  I  do  not  quite  understand  you,  Mary. 
Why  didn't  you  come  to  kiss  me?"  And  the  little  thing  had 
difficulty  in  speaking,  and  when  she  did  speak  she  said:  "O 
Papa  Buckner,  I  could  not  ask  you  to  kiss  me,  I  am  so  ugly. 
After  I  got  burned  I  am  so  ugly  I  could  not  ask  you  to  kiss 
me,  but  if  you  will  just  love  me  like  you  love  the  other  chil- 
dren and  tell  me  you  love  me,  then  you  need  not  kiss  me  at  all." 
You  know  what  he  did.  He  pushed  all  those  beautiful  children 
away,  and  took  up  little  Mary  in  his  arms,  and  kissed  the  little 
burned  cheek  again  and  again  and  said :  *'Mary,  you  are  just 
as  beautiful  to  Papa  Buckner  as  are  any  of  the  rest." 

Ah,  me !  I  was  that  burned  child  once,  and  sin  did  it  all !  I 
came  to  Jesus  and  said :  "I  am  sorry.  My  heart  is  sick  about  it. 
Oh,  I  have  repented  of  it  all."  And  He  said :  "1  will  receive 
you,  and  I  will  give  you  the  kiss  of  reconciliation,  the  kiss  of 
pardon,  the  kiss  of  forgiveness,"  and  I  was  saved  when  I  came 
like  that.  Now  no  more  will  I  go  fettered  and  bound  because 
of  sin,  because  Christ  has  made  me  free  by  His  mighty  grace. 

Jesus  paid   it  all, 
All   to   Him   I   owe, 
Sin  had  left  its  crimson  stain. 
He  washed  it  white  as  snow. 

Let  me  detain  you  for  the  third  word.  Paul  had  a  right 
anticipation.     "Forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind  and 


THE  SECRET  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  53 

^caching  forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press 
toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calHng  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus."  Paul  had  a  right  forward  look.  My  men  and 
women,  at  this  busy  noonday  hour,  I  come  to  ask  you,  one  by 
one,  have  you  the  right  aim  in  your  life?  What  are  you  living 
for  ?  What  is  that  hand  for  ?  What  is  the  eye  for  ?  What  is 
human  life  for?  What  is  your  life  for?  How  are  you  using 
your  life?  How  are  you  investing  your  life?  What  is  the  aim 
of  your  life  ?  Does  somebody  say :  "Why,  I  am  taking  it  one 
world  at  a  time  ?"  That  is  not  bright.  That  is  not  clever.  If 
a  man  does  not  include  two  worlds  at  a  time,  then  he  commits 
suicide  for  both.  A  man  is  to  be  a  citizen  of  two  worlds,  and  a 
man  who  lives  simply  for  this  world,  no  matter  how  success- 
fully, how  victoriously,  how  notoriously,  if  a  man  lives  simply 
for  this  present  world,  he  commits  suicide  in  it  and  suicide  for 
the  world  endless  that  awaits  us  just  out  there.  Oh,  include 
two  worlds  in  your  plan ! 

Let  me  tell  you  about  three  men.  One  said :  "One  world 
at  a  time  for  me,"  and  from  early  morning  until  dewy  eve,  he 
invested  all  his  powers  to  win  success,  and  he  won  it,  but  he 
died  without  hope,  and  without  God,  taking  a  leap  into  the 
dark  with  a  wail,  the  memory  of  which  must  forever  give 
agony  to  the  hearts  that  heard  it.  The  second  one  made  pro- 
fession of  religion,  but  he  followed  Christ  afar  off.  He  put 
his  religion  into  a  little  tiny  corner  of  his  life.  He  gave  Jesus 
the  small  places,  and  when  he  came  to  the  last  end,  with  his 
family  and  minister  around  him,  the  minister  was  saddened  by 
his  awful  story:  "Sir,  I  trust  I  shall  get  to  heaven,  but  my 
works  are  burned  up,  because  I  have  done  little  or  nothing  for 
Christ.  Oh,  if  I  could  retrace  my  life  and  be  the  right  kind 
of  a  man !"  And  then  there  was  the  third  man.  From  life's 
young  morning  he  dedicated  his  life  to  Jesus.  He  went  his 
way  a  great  business  man,  but  with  it  all  he  was  the  faithful 
friend  of  Jesus.  He  chose  Christ  as  his  chief  partner,  his 
guide  in  all  things.  And  when  he  came  down  to  die,  there  was 
a  halo  of  light  about  his  face,  and  there  was  victory  in  his  heart, 
and  in  his  words,  and  all  the  men  that  knew  him  said :  "If  ever 
a  Christian  has  lived,  this  man  is  he."  Which  one  of  these 
three  men  would  you  rather  be?  Listen  to  the  words  of  a 
modem  poet : 


54  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

I  had  walked  life's  way  with  an  easy  tread. 
Had  followed  where  comforts  and  pleasures  led. 
Until  one  day  in  a  quiet  place 
I  met  the  Master  face  to  face. 

With  station  and  rank  and  wealth  for  my  goal. 
Much  thought  for  my  body,  but  none  for  my  soul, 
I  had  entered  to  win  in  life's  mad  race. 
When   I   met  the  Master  face  to  face. 

I  had  built  my  castles  and  reared  them  high. 
With  their  towers  had  pierced  the  blue  of  the  sky, 
I  had  sworn  to  rule  with  an  iron  mace. 
When   I   met  the  Master  face  to  face. 

I   met   Him    and   knew   Him   and   blushed  to  see 
That  His  eyes,  full  of  sorrow,  were  fixed  on  me; 
And  I  faltered  and  fell  at  His   feet  that  day. 
While  my  castles  melted  and  vanished  away. 

Melted   and  vanished   and   in  their  place 
Naught   else   did   I   see  but  the   Master's   face. 
And    I    cried    aloud,    "Oh,    make   me   meet 
To  follow  the  steps  of  Thy  wounded  feet." 

My  thought  is  now  for  the  souls  of  men, 
I  have  lost  my  life  to  find  it  again, 
E'er   since  one  day  in  a  quiet  place 
I  met  the  Master  face  to  face. 

O  my  men  and  women,  you  are  not  ready  to  die,  you  are 
not  ready  to  live,  you  are  not  ready  for  any  duty,  even  for  five 
seconds,  if  you  are  putting  the  wisdom  and  love  and  power  of 
Christ  out  of  your  life.  Be  wise,  I  summon  you,  and  give 
heed  to  the  supreme  things,  even  in  the  day  when  you  ought. 
That  day  is  to-day. 

THE  BENEDICTION. 

And  now,  as  we  go,  may  God  vouchsafe  unto  us  every  one,  His  own  search- 
ing truth,  applied  by  its  Divine  Author,  even  by  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself,  so  that 
we  shall  from  this  day  forward,  put  first  things  first,  in  the  remaining  life  allowed 
us  in  the  flesh.  Oh,  we  beseech  thee,  our  Father,  that  these  busy  men  and 
women  at  this  noontide  hour,  may  go  away  with  the  heart  inflexibly  fixed  to 
give  Christ,  the  one  Savior,  the  rightful  Master  of  mankind,  absolute  supremacy 
in  our  every  heart,  and  in  every  life,  and  in  every  life  plan  that  we  are  to  have 
from  this  day  forward. 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  God,  bright  like  the  light  when  the 
morning  dawneth,  and  gracious  as  the  dew  when  the  eventide  cometh,  be  granted 
you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  today  and  tomorrow,  and  throughout  God's 
vast  beyond,  forever.     Amen. 


[Vi 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  13,  1917. 
PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  service  last  evening  I  raised 
the  question  with  the  Christians  w^ho  were  present  if  they 
would  not  set  themselves  apart  definitely  to  do  some 
earnest  personal  religious  visiting  every  day  during  these 
meetings.  Now,  I  am  wondering  how  many  of  those 
Christians  who  heard  that  request  have  to-day  heeded  it, 
and  to-day  have  sought  to  help  somebody  touching  per- 
sonal religion.  All  about  us  there  are  people  who  are 
neglecting  the  highest  things,  and  yet  these  peoole  have 
their  heart-hungers  and  their  longings,  because  eternity 
hath  been  set  in  every  heart,  and  therefore  nothing  other 
than  the  eternal  can  satisfy  the  human  heart.  Oh,  I  am 
so  anxious,  my  fellow  Christians,  that  we  shall  give  our- 
selves during  these  midsummer  days,  in  this  brief  meeting, 
like  we  ought,  to  the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting.  I 
believe — I  wonder  if  you  people  believe  it  with  me — that 
every  night  we  come  here  every  Christian  listening  to  me 
now,  can  by  the  right  sort  of  effort  bring  at  least  one  with 
you  to  every  night  service,  who  is  not  a  Christian.  What 
if  you  were  to  do  that?  Remember:  "Faith  cometh  by 
hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God."  What  if  every 
Christian  listening  to  me  now  highly  resolved  in  his  or 
her  heart :  "As  for  me,  I  will  do  my  best  to  bring  at  least 
one  with  me,  every  night,  who  is  not  a  Christian!"  Oh, 
I  pray  you,  pass  nobody  by.     Go  after  the  tallest  man  in 

55 


56  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

this  fair  city.  Jesus  needs  him,  and  surely  that  man's 
supreme  need  is  Jesus.  Go  after  the  most  gifted  woman 
socially  in  all  the  city.  How  the  Master  needs  her,  and 
how  she  needs  Him !  Go  after  the  poorest  and  wretchedest. 
Jesus  would  have  you  pass  nobody  by.  Now,  I  raise  the 
question  with  you  again,  my  fellow  Christian.  Will  you 
not  give  yourself  for  an  hour  to-morrow,  to  the  right  kind 
of  religious  visiting?  There  is  some  duty-neglecting 
Christian  you  ought  to  see.  There  is  some  back-slidden 
Christian  that  you  ought  to  confer  with.  And,  above  all, 
there  is  somebody  that  you  ought  to  talk  with  who  is  not 
a  Christian  at  all.  Oh,  what  an  incongruity  for  a  Christian 
to  go  his  way  dumb  in  the  presence  of  those  not  Chris- 
tians! Couldn't  you  give  an  hour  to-morrow,  to  this 
greatest  quest  of  all?  And  if  it  could  not  be  an  hour, 
couldn't  it  be  half  an  hour?  And  if  it  could  not  be  half 
an  hour,  couldn't  it  be  five  minutes?  And  if  it  could  not 
be  five  minutes,  couldn't  you  take  one  minute  to  ask  some 
person  face  to  face:  "Is  it  well  with  your  soul?"  Be  not 
afraid.     Do  your  best,  and  God  will  be  vnth  you. 

You  are  ready  now,  I  trust,  quietly  and  reverently,  to 
listen  for  some  moments  to  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. I  am  reading  from  John's  Gospel,  in  the  first  chap- 
ter: 

Again  the  next  day  after  John  stood,  and  two  of  his  disciples;  And  looking 
upon  Jesus  as  He  walked,  he  saith,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  Godl  And  the  two 
disciples  heard  him  speak,  and  they  followed  Jesus. 

Just  one  sentence,  and  that  led  them  to  follow  Jesus, 
and  you  can  speak  that  sentence. 

Then  Jesus  turned,  and  saw  them  following,  and  saith  unto  them,  What 
seek  ye.'* 

What  are  you  men  up  to  ?  Oh,  how  candid  is  the  good 
Master,  Jesus !  He  never  misleads.  He  never  deceives. 
How  candid  is  Jesus !  What  seek  ye  ?  What  are  you  men 
up  to?    Why  do  you  follow  me? 

They  said  unto  Him,  Rabbi  (which  is  to  say,  being  interpreted.  Master), 
where  dwdlest  thou?     He  saith  unto  them.  Come  and  see. 

That  is  what  He  always  says.  That  is  Christ's  standing 
challenge  to  mankind— come  and  see! 

They  came  and  saw  where  He  dwelt,  and  abode  with  Him  that  day:  for  it 
was  about  the  tenth  hour.  One  of  the  two  which  heard  John  speak,  and  followed 
Him,  was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother.  He  first  findeth  his  own  brother, 
Simon,  and  saith  unto  him.  We  have  found  the  Messias,  which  is,  being  inter 
prated,   the    Christ.      And   he  brought  him   to   Jesus. 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  57 

A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS. 

Text:     "And  he  brought  him  to  Jesus."— John  1:42. 

The  bringing  of  a  soul  to  Jesus  is  the  highest  achieve- 
ment possible  to  a  human  life.  Some  one  asked  Lyman 
Beecher,  probably  the  greatest  of  all  the  Beechers,  this  ques- 
tion :  "Mr.  Beecher,  you  know  a  great  many  things.  What 
do  you  count  the  greatest  thing  that  a  human  being  can 
be  or  do?"  And  without  any  hesitation  the  famous  pul- 
piteer replied :  "The  greatest  thing  is,  not  that  one  shall 
be  a  scientist,  important  as  that  is;  nor  that  one  shall  be 
a  statesman,  vastly  important  as  that  is;  nor  even  that 
one  shall  be  a  theologian,  immeasurabl}^  important  as  that 
is ;  but  the  greatest  thing  of  all,"  he  said,  "is  for  one  human 
being  to  bring  another  to  Christ  Jesus  the  Savior." 

Surely,  he  spoke  wisely,  and  well.  The  supreme  ambi- 
tion for  every  church  and  for  every  individual  Christian 
should  be  to  bring  somebody  to  Christ.  The  supreme 
method  for  bringing  people  to  Christ  is  indicated  here  in 
the  story  of  Andrew,  who  brought  his  brother  Simon  to 
Jesus.  The  supreme  method  for  winning  the  world  to 
Christ  is  the  personal  method,  the  bringing  of  people  to 
Christ  one  by  one.  That  is  Christ's  plan.  When  you  turn 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  they  are  as  clear  as  light,  that  God 
expects  every  friend  He  has  to  go  out  and  see  if  he  cannot 
win  other  friends  to  the  same  great  side  and  service  of 
Jesus. 

"Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,"  said  Jesus,  "both  in 
Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  The  early  church  went  out 
and  in  one  short  generation  shook  the  Roman  empire  to 
its  very  foundation.  It  was  a  pagan,  selfish,  sodden,  rotten 
empire,  and  yet  in  one  short  generation,  that  early  church 
had  shaken  that  Roman  empire  from  center  to  circumfer- 
ence, and  kindled  a  gospel  light  in  every  part  of  the  vast 
domain.  And  they  did  it  by  the  personal  method.  The 
men  and  the  women  and  the  children  who  loved  Christ, 
went  out  everywhere,  and  talked  for  Christ,  in  the  hearing 
of  those  who  knew  Him  not,  and  the  hearers  became  inter- 
ested, and  followed  on,  and  found  out  for  themselves  the 


m  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

saving  truth  that  there  is  in  Christ's  gospel.  Every  Chris- 
tian, no  matter  how  humble,  can  win  somebody  else  to 
Christ.  You  would  not  challenge  that,  would  you?  Let 
me  say  it  again.  Every  Christian,  however  humble,  can 
win  somebody  to  Christ. 

That  is  a  most  interesting  and  instructive  story  told 
of  the  nobly  gifted  Boston  preacher.  Dr.  O.  P.  GifTord, 
who  preached  one  morning  to  his  congregation,  making 
the  insistence  that  it  is  the  business,  primary  and  funda- 
mental, of  Christ's  people  to  go  out  constantly  and  win 
others  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Savior.  And  as  he  brought 
to  bear  his  message  upon  his  waiting  auditors,  with  words 
that  breathed  and  thoughts  that  burned,  the  minister  came 
on  to  say :  "Every  Christian  can  win  somebody  to  Christ." 
When  the  sermon  was  done  and  the  people  were  sent  away, 
there  tarried  behind  one  of  his  humblest  auditors — prob- 
ably the  humblest,  with  reference  to  this  world's  goods, 
for  she  was  a  poor  seamstress.  She  tarried  behind  to  make 
her  plea  to  the  preacher  that  his  sermon  was  over-stressed. 
Greatly  moved  she  was,  the  preacher  stated,  as  looking  him 
in  the  face  she  said:  "Pastor,  this  is  the  first  time  that  I 
ever  heard  you  when  you  seemed  to  be  unfair."  "Pray, 
wherein  was  I  unfair?"  he  asked.  Then  she  said:  "You 
kept  crowding  the  truth  down  upon  us  that  every  Christian 
could  win  somebody  to  Christ.  Now,  you  did  not  make 
any  exceptions,  and  surely  I  am  an  exception.  Pray,  tell 
me  what  could  I  do?  I  am  but  a  poor  seamstress,  and  I 
sew  early  and  late  to  get  enough  to  keep  the  wolf  from 
the  door  for  my  fatherless  children,  and  I  have  no  educa- 
tion and  no  opportunity,  and  yet  your  statement  was  so 
sweeping  that  even  I  was  included,  and  in  that,"  she  said, 
"I  think  you  were  unfair — the  first  time  I  ever  knew  yoit 
to  be  so."  And  then,  when  she  had  finished  her  vehement 
protest,  he  looked  down  at  her  in  all  her  agitation,  and 
said  to  her:  "Does  anybody  ever  come  to  your  house?" 
She  said:  "Why,  certainly,  a  few  people  come  there." 
And  then,  waiting  a  moment,  he  said:  "Does  the  milk* 
man  ever  come?"  "To  be  sure,"  she  said;  "every  morning 
he  comes."  "Does  the  bread-man  come?"  "Every  day  he 
comes."     "Does  the  meat-man  come?"     "Every  day  he 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  SB 

comes  to  my  cottage."  Then,  waiting  a  moment  for  his 
questions  to  have  their  due  effect,  looking  down  earnestly 
at  her,  he  said:  "A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient,"  and 
he  turned  upon  his  heel,  abruptly  leaving  her.  She  went 
her  way,  and  the  nightfall  came  and  she  went  to  her  bed 
to  ponder  late  and  long  the  searching  message  she  had 
heard  that  morning.  Why,  she  had  not  even  tried  to  win 
anybody  to  Christ.  She  had  never  made  the  effort.  She 
claimed  to  be  Christ's  friend,  and  yet  had  never  opened 
her  lips  for  Him  at  all.  She  will  try,  and  she  will 
begin  with  her  first  opportunity  to-morrow,  even  with  the 
coming  of  the  milk-man.  Accordingly  she  was  up  before 
the  daylight  came,  there  waiting,  if  haply  she  might  speak 
to  him  some  word  concerning  personal  religion.  When  he 
greeted  her,  he  made  the  remark  that  he  had  never  seen 
her  up  quite  so  early  before,  and  she  stammered  out  some 
embarrassing  reply,  not  saying  what  she  came  to  say,  and 
now  he  had  left  her,  and  the  gate  clicked  behind  him  as  he 
left.  Then  she  summoned  her  strength  and  called  him 
back.  *'Wait  a  minute,"  she  pleaded,  "I  did  have  some- 
thing to  say  to  you."  And  when  he  tarried  to  hear  it,  she 
poured  out  her  heart  to  him  in  the  query :  "Do  you  know 
Christ?  Are  you  a  Christian?  Are  3^ou  the  friend  and 
follower  of  that  glorious  Savior  who  came  down  from 
heaven  and  died,  that  you  might  not  forever  die?"  And 
fairly  dropping  his  milk  pails,  he  looked  into  her  face  with 
anguish  in  his  own,  as  he  said  to  her:  "Little  w^oman, 
what  on  earth  provoked  you  to  talk  to  me  like  this?  Here 
for  two  nights,  madam,  I  have  been  unable  to  sleep,  and 
the  burden  of  it  all  is  that  I  am  not  a  Christian,  and  I  am 
in  the  darkness.  If  you  know  how  to  find  the  light,  you 
are  the  one  that  I  need,  and  you  should  tell  me."  And  there, 
in  a  few  brief  minutes  of  conversation,  she  told  him  hov/ 
she  had  found  the  light,  and  he  walked  in  that  simple  path 
that  she  indicated  for  him.  And  Dr.  Gifford  goes  on  to 
tell  us  that  before  that  year  was  out,  that  same  little  seam- 
stress had  won  seven  adults  to  Christ,  not  only  to  the  open 
confession  of  Christ  as  their  Savior,  but  to  take  their  places 
promptly  in  His  church.     You  can  win  somebody  to  Christ. 


60  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Have  you  tried?    Will  you  try?    Won't  you  try,  looking 
to  God  to  guide  and  help  you? 

The  text  tells  of  a  man  who  won  somebody  to  Christ. 
The  case  of  an  ordinary  man  is  this,  and  therefore  he  is 
chosen,  for  we  are  just  ordinary  people.  This  man  Andrew 
is  not  Paul,  the  outstanding  Christian  of  the  centuries.  He 
is  not  Apollos,  that  eloquent,  winsome  man,  who  could 
compel  people  to  listen  to  him,  his  words  were  so  en- 
trancing. He  is  just  an  ordinary,  every-day,  commonplace 
man.  The  Bible  makes  only  three  or  four  passing  refer- 
ences to  him.  This  man  is  the  illustration  we  are  to  have 
tonight  of  the  one  person  going  out  to  win  some  other 
person  to  Christ.  Let  us  fix  our  eyes  upon  him  to-night, 
and  learn  from  the  story  something  to  help  us. 

Andrew  here  stands  forth  as  one  who  has  just  found 
the  Savior.  How  will  he  act?  Two  things  stand  out  in 
response  to  that  question — how  will  he  act?  First  of  all, 
Andrew  is  immediately  interested  that  somebody  else  may 
be  saved.  Don't  you  like  that?  Isn't  that  a  wonderful 
example  for  us?  Immediately,  this  man  Andrew  is  con- 
cerned that  somebody  else  may  be  saved.  Oh,  there  are 
different  evidences,  my  friends,  indicated  in  these  Holy 
Scriptures,  whereby  we  may  pass  upon  this  eternally  con- 
sequential question,  whether  or  not  we  have  been  born 
again.  It  may  be  that  at  one  of  these  services  we  will 
group  these  Scriptural  evidences,  and  focus  them  upon 
this  question :  "Have  I  been  born  again,  and  what  are  the 
Scriptural  evidences  that  I  have  been  born  again?"  Cer- 
tainly we  might  not  be  able  to  have  a  more  interesting  or 
profitable  study.  But  whether  we  shall  give  ourselves  or 
not  to  such  service,  here  stands  out  for  us  one  shining  fact, 
like  a  mountain  peak:  If  one  is  born  again,  that  one  is 
concerned  that  somebody  else  may  be  saved.  "If  any  man 
have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His."  And  the 
spirit  of  Christ  is  the  spirit  of  compassionate  anxiety  that 
lost  people  may  be  saved.  Now,  Andrew  evinces  his  con- 
cern, straighway  after  he  finds  the  Messiah,  that  somebody 
else  may  find  that  same  blessed,  forgiving  Savior.  Years 
agone,  I  was  preaching  in  a  series  of  'daily  meetings  like 
these,  and  one  Sunday  morning,  when  I  made  the  call  for 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  61 

those  who  would  confess  Christ  to  come  forward  and 
remain,  there  came  a  group  down  the  aisles,  and  a  number 
waited  to  be  received  into  the  church.  When  I  came  to 
question  them  about  their  coming  into  the  church,  I  came 
presently  to  an  humble  German  girl,  a  servant  in  one  of 
the  families.  She  was  not  long  from  the  old  country,  and 
her  English  was  barely  intelligible,  as  we  listened  to  it, 
and  I  said  to  her:  "My  child,  why  do  you  wish  to  join  the 
church?"  In  her  broken  English,  she  made  her  reply  to 
my  question,  and  her  English  was  so  bad  that  it  was  well- 
nigh  impossible  for  us  to  understand  just  what  she  was 
saying.  Then  I  said  to  her:  ''My  child,  if  you  won't  mind, 
I  will  ask  you  to  wait  a  week,  and  let  us  talk  with  you 
quietly  and  carefully,  as  is  the  custom  with  all  the  young 
people  that  come  into  the  church.  We  would  be  careful 
about  this  great  step.  The  church  is  for  those  who  have 
found  Christ  as  their  Savior,  who  know  the  way,  and  too 
much  care  can  hardly  be  exercised  at  that  point,  and  I  will 
just  ask,  if  you  don't  mind,  that  you  will  wait  and  let  us 
talk  it  over,  that  no  mistake  may  be  made."  She  readily 
assented  to  my  proposal,  and  I  passed  to  the  next  case, 
and  when  I  was  questioning  him  presently  the  child  broke 
out  in  a  sob  audible  to  those  in  the  rear  of  the  large  audito- 
rium. All  of  us  were  immediately  embarrassed.  Evident- 
ly I  had  grieved  her,  and  I  turned  back  to  her  frankly,  and 
said:  "Why,  my  child,  I  did  not  mean  to  grieve  you  by 
asking  that  you  wait.  That  is  not  anything  unusual.  The 
church  is  doing  that  sort  of  thing  here  constantly.  We 
are  asking  that  the  young  people  talk  with  the  pastor,  and 
talk  with  the  parents  carefully,  before  they  come  into  the 
church.  Coming  into  the  church  is  one  of  the  greatest 
steps  for  a  human  soul,  and  it  ought  to  be  taken  with  much 
deliberation  and  wisdom.  It  was  for  your  good,  my  child, 
and  it  is  not  anything  unusual  that  you  are  asked  to  wait." 
She  said,  with  better  English  now:  "Oh,  sir,  it  is  not  that 
that  makes  me  cry !  I  forgot.  I  cried  because  my  brother 
here  in  this  city  is  such  a  wild  boy,  and  he  is  lost,  and 
my  heart  is  breaking.  I  am  so  concerned  that  he  shall 
be  saved.  Won't  you  ask  everybody  here  to-day  to  join 
me  in  one  prayer  that  my  poor,  lost,  sinful  brother  may  be 


62  A'  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

saved?  That  is  what  made  me  cry/'  And  the  dear  old 
senior  deacon  spoke  up,  and  said:  "Pastor,  we  had  better 
take  her  into  the  church  now.  She  knows  the  way,  and  we 
need  not  wait  another  week/'  She  did  know  the  way,  and 
there  was  the  outflashing  in  that  conversation,  in  that  last 
moment,  of  her  deep  knowledge  of  a  forgiving  Savior,  and 
all  that  audience  was  swept  with  her  tremulous  appeal. 
They  knew,  every  Christian  there,  that  this  woman  knew 
the  Lord,  because  of  her  heart's  longing  for  others  to  be 
saved. 

There  was  another  point  about  this  man  Andrew,  strik- 
ingly suggested,  when  he  found  the  Savior,  and  that  point 
is  that  he  went  straight  home  to  get  his  first  work  in  for 
his  Savior.  Now,  don't  you  like  that?  He  went  straight- 
way to  get  in  his  first  work  for  the  great  Savior  whom  he 
had  just  found,  in  his  own  home.  He  went  after  a  difficult 
case,  let  me  tell  you.  He  went  after  his  own  brother 
Simon.  Rash  and  headstrong  and  impulsive  was  that  man 
Simon,  and  yet  plain  Andrew,  a  weakling  compared  with 
Simon,  went  after  that  big,  strong  brother,  nor  did  he 
cease  until  he  had  brought  him  to  Christ. 

Oh,  if  the  limits  of  this  hour  allowed,  I  should  like, 
my  brothers,  to  poui  out  my  heart  in  a  plea  for  home 
religion.  There  is  an  old  saying  that  comiCS  to  mind 
just  here:  "The  shoemaker's  wife  is  the  worst  shod 
person  in  the  village."  Oh,  if  I  might  pour  out  my 
heart  for  a  moment  in  a  plea  that  our  homes  be  or- 
dered like  they  ought  to  be  in  the  realm  of  religion!  If 
there  be  one  place,  let  me  say  it  to  the  parents,  where  you 
should  put  your  best  foot  forward  for  Christ,  it  should  be 
in  your  families.  I  tell  you,  that  is  an  indictment  against 
a  father  if  his  own  boy  does  not  believe  in  his  religion.  I 
tell  you  that  is  an  indictment  against  a  mother  if  her  own 
girl  does  not  believe:  "My  mother  is  the  best  Christian 
in  all  the  world."  Oh,  that  our  religion  in  our  homes  shall 
be  outshining  and  congruous  and  consistent,  even  after  the 
highest  and  most  heavenly  fashion!  The  accent,  in  my 
humble  judgment,  that  most  of  all  needs  to  be  pronounced 
this  night,  throughout  this  whole  country,  from  border  to 
border,  is  an  accent  on  the  religion  of  our  homes.     As  goes 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  63 

the  home,  so  shall  go  everything  in  the  social  order.  The 
citadel,  both  for  church  and  for  state,  is  the  home.  If  we 
shall  have  the  right  kind  of  homes,  then  shall  everything 
in  the  social  order  be  conserved  and  saved,  but  if  our  homes 
shall  be  beaten  down  and  unraveled  and  frazzled  out  by 
every  superficial  and  foolish  thing — God  save  the  mark! — 
the  nation  is  doomed  and  the  land  shall  be  lost.  I  wonder 
what  your  answer  would  be,  as  I  look  into  the  faces  of 
Christian  parents  now,  and  ask  you  this  simple  question: 
Do  you  have  family  prayer  at  your  house?  Why  don't 
you  have  it?  You  might  have  measured  off  to  you  one 
round  thousand  years  in  which  to  get  up  your  reasons 
why  a  Christian  parent  should  not  have  family  prayer  in 
his  house,  and  when  the  thousand  years  had  passed,  you 
would  come  back  without  the  semblance  of  even  one  rea- 
son. Oh,  men  and  women  who  love  Christ,  with  your  chil- 
dren growing  about  you,  or  already  fairly  grown,  is  it 
possible  that  human  life,  invested  as  it  is  with  such  sacred 
meanings  and  opportunities  and  responsibilities,  shall  go 
passing  away,  and  the  chiefest  j.lace  of  all  to  get  in  ycur 
witness  for  Christ,  even  under  your  own  roof,  shall  be 
overlooked  and  lost !  One  of  the  most  menacing  signs  that 
you  can  find  in  any  community,  if  you  are  able  to  find  it 
there,  is  the  decay  of  family  prayer  in  such  community. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  two  homes.  To  the  first  was  I 
summoned  one  morning  to  the  burial  of  their  only  child. 
She  was  a  beautiful  girl  of  some  fifteen  summers.  They 
were  not  members  of  my  congregation,  but  of  another; 
but  their  minister  was  absent,  and,  therefore,  was  I  sum- 
moned to  conduct  the  funeral.  I  came  to  the  splendid- 
looking  home,  and  a  vast  concourse  of  people  were  in  and 
about  the  house.  I  asked  that  I  might  see  the  family,  and 
I  was  taken  down  the  long  hall  and  into  the  quiet  room 
where  the  broken-hearted  parents  sat,  and  as  tactfully  as 
I  could,  I  began  to  find  my  way  to  an  apprehension  of  the 
situation,  that  I  might  the  better  speak  in  the  funeral  serv- 
ice to  be  had  a  few  moments  later.  I  found  in  response 
to  questioning,  presently,  that  both  of  these  parents  were 
professed  Christians,  and  then  I  ventured  to  tell  them  that 
earth  had  no  sorrow  that  heaven  cannot  heal,  and  that  they 


64  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

must  refuse  to  turn  aside  into  the  abyss  of  despair  and 
broken-heartedness,  because  they  had  a  Savior,  and  they 
were  His  friends.  By  this  time  the  mother  was  on  her 
feet,  and  said :  "Sir,  I  have  something  to  tell  you  that  has 
utterly  broken  our  hearts."  I  waited  to  hear  what  it  was, 
and  then  she  said:  "That  beautiful  girl  yonder  in  her 
casket,  our  only  child,  has  been  here  in  our  home  these 
fifteen  years,  and  yet  in  all  these  years,  though  her  mother 
is  a  Christian,  and  her  father  is  a  Christian — in  all  these 
years  that  child  never  heard  either  one  of  us  pray  one 
time,  sir."  And  then  she  waited  a  moment  more,  and  said : 
"Sir,  our  horrible  fear  is  that  it  was  not  well  with  the  child, 
and  that  her  blood  will  be  on  our  garments."  Will  you 
say  that  it  was  not?  Oh,  cruelty  of  cruelties,  inconsistency 
of  inconsistencies,  that  a  child  should  be  in  a  Christian 
home  fifteen  years,  and  never  hear  the  voice  of  a  parent 
one  time  lifted  in  prayer ! 

There  was  another  home  of  which  I  would  speak.  I 
pleaded  with  the  people  one  morning  in  the  other  years, 
begging  them  that  they  put  first  things  first,  and  that  the 
men  who  were  Christians  would  pause  at  the  breakfast  table 
for  a  little  season  of  prayer  with  the  loved  ones  around 
them,  or  in  the  evening  time,  when  the  day  was  done,  that 
they  would  gather  the  circle  about  them,  and  speak  with 
the  great  King  and  Savior  in  grateful  acknowledgment  and 
in  continual  plea  for  His  m.ercies  to  be  granted  them.  Num- 
bers that  morning  said  that  they  would  change  their  ways. 
One  outstanding  business  man,  whose  voice  was  often 
heard  in  the  city,  searched  me  out  and  said:  "Oh,  I  have 
lived  miserably  far  from  what  is  consistent  and  right.  I 
will  turn  over  a  new  leaf  tonight.  Family  prayer  shall  be 
at  my  house  to-night,  and  every  night  henceforth."  I  fol- 
low it  just  a  moment  more.  The  next  morning,  as  I  crossed 
the  city,  I  saw  his  only  son  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  years 
of  age,  and  as  I  was  traveling  rapidly  along,  the  son  sum- 
moned me,  and  when  he  reached  me,  I  saw  in  his  face  that 
there  was  a  deep  battle  of  some  sort  going  on,  and  I  said: 
"What  is  it,  my  boy,  that  I  can  do  for  you?"  And  then  he 
looked  down  with  face  averted,  and  then  looked  up  with  his 
face  covered  with  tears,  and  said:     "You  ought  to  have 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  65 

been  at  our  house  last  night."  "What  happened  at  your 
house,  my  boy?  I  should  like  to  know."  He  said:  "Oh, 
you  should  have  been  there.  Papa  prayed  last  night! 
Papa  had  sister  and  me  called  into  the  room,  and  papa 
sobbed  as  he  told  us  he  had  not  lived  like  a  Christian 
father  ought,  and  papa  asked  sister  and  me  to  forgive  him. 
Neither  of  us  could  talk.  We  did  not  know  what  to  say. 
Both  of  us  cried.  Papa  asked  mother  to  open  the  Bible 
for  him,  and  he  tried  to  read  it,  but  he  could  not,  and  then 
papa  knelt  down  and  prayed,  mostly  about  himself,  and 
then  he  said  when  he  got  up :  'Children,  papa  is  going  to 
live  a  different  life  from  this  time  on/  "  And  the  boy  said : 
"I  went  to  my  room  and  I  could  not  sleep."  I  said :  "Why 
couldn't  you  sleep,  my  boy?"  And  then,  as  he  leaned  over 
on  my  shoulder,  he  said:  "I  found  out  last  night  that  I 
am  a  sinner,  and  that  I  am  lost.  You  do  not  know  how 
I  wanted  to  see  you,  that  you  might  tell  me  what  to  do." 
We  turned  into  a  little  store  house,  vacant,  and  there,  in 
a  few  words,  I  told  the  lad  how  it  is  that  Jesus  saves  a 
sinner,  and  the  lad  made  his  simple,  honest  surrender,  and 
was  saved  that  very  Monday  morning.  You  should  have 
heard  him  the  next  Sunday  morning,  when  the  pastor  said : 
"Tell  us,  my  boy,  what  started  you  in  this  upward  way?" 
He  looked  across  at  his  father,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
house,  and  said :  "Papa's  prayer  last  Sunday  night  started 
me  in  the  upward  way." 

Oh,  I  know  it  is  difficult  to  have  family  prayers,  my 
men  and  women !  I  know  it  is  difficult,  but  listen  to  this : 
Everything  on  this  earth  worth  while  costs,  and  you  and 
I  must  not,  dare  not,  thrust  back  into  some  little  inconse- 
quential corner  in  our  lives  the  thing  chiefest  and  com- 
manding that  God  has  appointed  for  the  winning  of  the 
world  to  God. 

There  is  another  point  for  our  consideration  in  the  case 
of  this  man  Andrew.  Andrew's  act  magnifies  the  place  and 
the  power  of  personal  work  in  the  winning  of  lost  people 
to  Christ — the  place  and  power  of  personal  work — and  just 
there  are  several  suggestions  for  our  consideration.  There 
can  be  no  substitutes  for  personal  work.  Jesus  is  depend- 
ing on  His  friends  to  get  His  gospel  made  known  to  a  gain- 


66  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

saying  and  unbelieving  world.  He  is  dependent  on  His 
friends.  That  is  His  own  divinely  appointed  method. 
There  can  be  no  substitutes  for  personal  work !  Life  must 
make  its  impact  upon  life.  Now,  everybody  seems  to  un- 
derstand that,  I  have  sometimes  thought,  better  than  the 
church  of  God  understands  it.  The  business  men  under- 
stand the  power  of  personal  work.  They  send  out  their 
drummers  up  and  down  the  land,  to  look  into  the  faces  of 
their  customers,  real  or  prospective,  and  explain  their 
wares.  And  certainly  the  politicians  understand  the  power 
of  personal  work.  You  let  a  great  issue  be  on,  city  or  state 
or  national,  with  two  virile  parties  each  contending  for 
supremacy,  and  you  will  observe  that  the  champions  of 
these  parties  send  their  spokesmen,  their  representatives, 
to  look  their  fellovv''-men  in  the  face  and  argue  and  plead 
and  explain,  if  haply  they  may  win  their  votes.  Oh,  will 
the  church  of  God  fail  to  lay  to  heart  that  the  chief  instru- 
mentality human  for  the  winning  of  the  world  to  Christ  is 
the  power  of  personal  work?  There  can  be  no  substitute 
for  personal  work,  none  at  all.  Elisha  may  send  his  serv- 
ant Gehazi,  with  the  prophet's  own  staff  back  yonder  to  the 
chamber  where  the  dead  boy  lies,  saying  to  his  servant: 
"Put  my  staff  on  that  boy  and  see  if  it  won't  bring  him  to 
life,"  and  the  instructions  may  be  carried  out,  but  the  boy 
will  remain  in  the  cold  grip  of  death.  Elisha,  the  prophet, 
himself  must  go,  and  stretch  his  own  body,  v/arm  and  puls- 
ing, on  the  cold  body  of  that  dead  boy.  Elisha  himself 
must  make  the  impact  of  life  upon  that  dead  body.  The 
Divine  Master  of  life  himself  gave  an  emphasis  to  personal 
work  beyond  anything  that  I  can  describe  in  my  simple 
discourse  this  evening.  Jesus  preached  His  chlefest  sermon 
on  the  new  birth  to  just  one  man.  My  fellow-men,  if  Jesus 
thought  it  worth  while  to  have  just  one  for  His  congrega- 
tion, and  there  do  His  best  work,  surely  the  servant  shall 
not  be  greater  than  his  Master.  And  when  Jesus  came 
to  preach  His  sermon  on  eternal  life,  He  preached  it  yonder 
to  a  woman  at  the  well  of  Samaria  —  a  poor  drab  of  a 
woman,  about  whose  character  the  less  said  the  better,  and 
yet  she  had  a  soul  that  was  to  live  forever,  and  when  she 
came  to  that  well  to  draw  water  therefrom,  Jesus  had  His 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  67 

opportunity,  and  with  words  tactful  and  honest  and  faith- 
ful, He  found  His  way  to  that  woman's  conscience,  and 
at  the  right  time  revealed  himself  the  forgiving  Savior 
to  her.    Jesus  gave  His  best  service  for  one  soul. 

Listen  to  Him  yonder  as  He  tells  the  story  of  the  shep- 
herd leaving  his  ninety  and  nine  sheep  safely  housed  in 
the  sheep-cote.  Ninety  and  nine  of  them  were  safe,  but 
one  was  missing,  and  he  left  the  ninety  and  nine  safely 
housed  in  the  sheep-cote,  and  went  out  after  that  missing 
sheep,  over  the  hills  and  mountains,  with  his  feet  pi.erced 
by  stones  and  thorns,  searching,  looking  for  that  one  miss- 
ing sheep.  Nor  did  he  give  up  his  quest,  until  that  sheep 
was  found,  and  the  shepherd  brought  it  back  and  put  it  in 
the  sheep-cote  with  the  others.  What  is  Jesus  saying  in 
this  pungent  parable?  "Oh,  my  church,"  the  compassion- 
ate Savior  says,  ''go  out  and  seek  earnestly  until  that  lost 
sheep  is  found !"     He  is  saying  just  that. 

Now,  all  experience  and  all  observation  confirm  the 
point  that  I  am  seeking  to  make,  that  there  can  be  no  sub- 
stitutes for  personal  work.  How  shall  we  save  our 
churches?  My  fellow  Christians,  there  is  one  sure  way, 
and  that  is  that  our  churches  be  great  life-saving  stations 
to  point  lost  sinners  to  Christ.  The  supreme  indictmei;it 
that  you  can  bring  against  a  church,  if  you  are  able  in 
truth  to  bring  it,  is  that  such  church  lacks  in  passion  and 
compassion  for  human  souls.  A  church  is  nothing  better 
than  an  ethical  club  if  its  sympathies  for  lost  souls  do  not 
overflow,  and  if  it  does  not  go  out  to  seek  to  point  lost 
souls  to  the  knowledge  of  Jesus. 

But  now  I  come  to  a  practical  question.  How  may  you 
and  I  win  sinners  to  Christ,  as  did  Andrew  of  old?  That 
is  entirely  practical,  and  this  Wednesday  evening  let  us 
focus  our  thoughts  for  a  moment  on  the  practical  question, 
how  may  you  and  I,  like  Andrew,  win  people  to  Christ? 
There  are  several  suggestions  to  be  given  in  response  to 
that  question.  First  of  all,  let  us  magnify  the  Word  of 
God  and  its  Author,  the  Divine  Spirit  himself.  We  are  to 
magnify  both  the  Word  of  God  and  the  Author  of  such 
Word,  namely  the  Holy  Spirit  himself.  The  one  is  our 
sword,  and  the  other  is  our  power.    We  are  to  take  this 


68  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Word  of  God  and  we  are  to  deliver  to  the  lost  world  about 
us  the  message  of  this  Word  of  God  concerning  Jesus  and 
the  relation  of  humanity  to  Him.  Our  message  is  made 
out  for  us,  fortunately:  "Preach  the  preaching  that  I  bid 
thee."  "Preach  the  Word."  The  Word  of  God  is  to  be 
proclaimed.  The  Word  of  God  is  to  be  avowed.  The 
Word  of  God  is  to  be  declared.  The  Word  of  God  is  not 
bound.  The  Word  of  God  will  take  care  of  itself,  if  only 
it  be  faithfully  proclaimed.  You  and  I  are  to  come  with 
this  Word  of  God,  and  without  mincing  or  reservation,  are 
to  tell  men  everywhere  that  outside  of  Jesus  Christ  they 
are  lost,  and  shall  never  meet  God  in  peace,  if  they  are  not 
forgiven  by  this  Divine  Savior.  We  are  to  declare  that, 
and  the  Lord,  in  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  shall  apply  and 
shall  bring  to  pass  such  results  as  in  His  wisdom  and  mercy 
He  deemeth  best. 

Nor  is  that  all.  As  we  give  ourselves  to  the  task  of 
winning  souls  to  Christ,  we  are  with  all  diligence  and 
devotedness  to  seek  the  guidance  and  power  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  himself  at  every  step.  He  would  guide  and  help  us. 
You  do  not  have  to  see  the  man  to-morrow  by  yourself — 
that  difficult  man.  The  talk  you  are  to  have  with  him  is 
not  to  be  in  your  own  strength  alone.  Beside  you  shall 
stand  the  omnific  Savior,  and  going  with  you  shall  be  the 
counsel  and  power  of  His  Spirit.  You  do  not  have  to  see 
that  woman  in  your  own  poor,  unaided  wisdom.  You  are 
to  do  the  best  you  can,  leaning  on  the  Arm  Everlasting, 
and  God's  wisdom  and  God's  power  clothed  upon  from  His 
Spirit  shall  accompany  your  simple,  honest  effort. 

Again,  if  you  and  I  are  to  win  people  to  Christ,  then 
we  are  to  use,  like  Andrew  did,  the  power  of  personal  testi- 
mony. When  Andrew  found  his  Savior,  he  said:  "Broth- 
er, listen !  I  have  found  the  Messiah.  Let  me  tell  you 
about  Him."  And  then,  with  words  that  thrilled  and 
burned,  Andrew  told  his  brother  what  he  had  tasted  and 
seen  and  felt  of — Jesus,  the  long  looked  for  Messiah.  My 
fellow  Christians,  there  Is  nothing  else  human  quite  so 
powerful  as  the  power  of  an  earnest  personal  testimony 
concerning  Jesus'  experience  in  your  own  life,  as  you  tell 
somebody  else  what  Jesus  has  been  and  consciously  is  to 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  69 

you  yourself.  You  let  some  man  in  this  audience  come 
down  this  aisle  and  stand  up  and  tell  us:  "This  very  day 
I  have  had  definite  dealings  with  God,  and  know  it,"  and 
every  ear  is  alert  to  catch  what  he  says.  There  is  no 
power  like  the  power  of  personal  testimony.  You  can  tell 
that  neighbor  or  friend  how  you  heard  Christ's  voice,  and 
how  you  responded,  and  what  He  said  to  you,  and  what 
He  did,  and  what  you  have  seen  and  experienced  of  His 
grace  and  love  in  your  own  little  life.  Tell  that  experience 
to  somebody  without  delay. 

But  that  is  not  all.  There  is  no  power  human  like  the 
power  of  personal  love,  as  we  go  out  to  win  people  to  Christ. 
Oh,  do  we  care  for  the  people  round  us  who  are  lost?  Do 
we  really  care?  Of  old  there  issued  from  the  lips  of  one 
sorely  pressed,  this  plaintive  cry:  ''No  man  cared  for  my 
soul."  Are  there  men  and  women  in  Fort  Worth  who,  if 
we  could  get  at  what  they  think,  would  say  this  to  us: 
"They  have  their  churches  and  their  preachers  and  their 
Christians  numbering  many,  but  nobody  ever  cared  for  my 
soul  ?"  Is  there  somebody  in  this  community,  lost  and  grop- 
ing like  a  blind  man  for  the  wall,  not  ready  to  die,  not 
ready  to  live,  who  in  truth  could  say  to  us :  "I  have  lived 
these  long  years,  but  nobody  ever  said  that  he  cared  for 
my  soul?"  Make  that  impossible  as  these  days  pass.  Go 
with  your  word  of  witnessing  and  pleading  and  love,  and 
go  without  delay.  There  is  nothing  so  powerful  in  all  this 
world  as  the  power  of  love.  Everybody  ought  to  know 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  I  Corinthians  by  heart,  and  in 
its  gracious  spirit  every  one  of  us  ought  to  live  every  day: 
"Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels,  and 
have  not  love,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal."  Do  we  love  lost  sinners?  Do  we  care  for  the 
young  men  about  us  who  are  coasting  the  downward  road? 
Do  we  care  for  the  people  whose  toil  is  rigorous  and  whose 
lot  in  life  is  hard?  Do  we  care  for  business  men  and  pro- 
fessional men,  who  are  side-stepping  with  reference  to  the 
supreme  things,  namely,  the  things  of  God  and  the  soul 
and  eternity?  Do  we  love  these  people  well  enough  to  go 
to  them  and  earnestly  and  alone  say  to  them :  "Is  it  well 
with  your  soul?"      There  is  no  power  in  human  life  like 


70  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  power  of  love.  The  prayer  that  the  psalmist  of  old 
prayed  is  the  prayer  that  you  and  I  ought  to  pray;  "En- 
large my  heart."  He  did  not  pray  that  his  head  might  be 
enlarged.  "Enlarge  my  heart,"  for  out  of  the  heart  are  the 
issues  of  life. 

One  of  the  most  heart-moving  conversions  that  I  have 
ever  known,  I  witnessed  years  ago  in  my  city,  during  the 
holiday  period  in  mid-winter.  There  reached  me  the  mes- 
sage that  a  little  Sunday  school  boy  in  one  of  our  mission 
Sunday  schools  had  been  accidentally  shot  by  his  little 
neighbor  friend,  and  I  hurried  to  the  humble  home  as  fast 
as  I  could  go,  an-d  I  found  the  unconscious  little  fellow  in 
the  hands  of  two  skillful  doctors,  as  they  sought  to  diagnose 
the  case.  After  awhile,  when  they  had  finished  their  diag- 
nosis and  treatment,  I  asked  them  what  of  the  case,  and  they 
said :  "He  will  not  live.  The  shot  is  unto  death."  I  asked 
them  if  he  would  recover  consciousness,  and  they  answered 
that  he  might — that  he  might  live  two  or  three  days,  or  he 
might  not  live  until  morning.  I  went  back  the  next  day, 
for  this  first  day  the  boy's  father  was  in  the  stupor  of  a 
terrible  drunk.  A  great-hearted  and  kindly  father  he  was, 
too,  when  he  was  sober.  Oh,  the  tragedy  that  many  of 
these  big-hearted,  capable  men  allow  their  lives  thus  to  be 
cajoled  and  cheated  and  destro3^ed  by  some  evil  habit!  I 
went  back  the  next  day,  and  the  father  was  sobering  up. 
He  was  a  fine  workman  in  a  harness  and  saddlery  estab- 
lishment. He  was  sobering  up,  and  the  agony  of  his  case 
v/as  something  pitiful  to  behold.  He  would  walk  the  floor, 
and  then  he  v/ould  pause,  as  the  tears  fell  from  his  face, 
while  he  looked  on  that  little  suffering  boy,  nine  or  ten 
years  of  age.  I  sat  down  beside  the  boy  and  waited  for 
awhile,  and  presently  the  child  opened  his  eyes,  and  the 
little  fellow  was  conscious.  His  eyes  were  intelligent.  His 
lips  moved  as  he  spoke  my  name,  for  he  had  frequently 
heard  me  speak  in  the  mission  where  he  went  to  the  Sun- 
day school.  I  bent  over  him,  and  the  father  came  and 
sobbed  and  laughed  as  he  observed  the  consciousness  that 
had  come  to  his  little  boy.  And  the  father  stroked  the 
little  fellow's  face,  and  kissed  him  with  all  the  affection  of 
a  mother,  and  said,  as  he  laughed  and  cried:     "My  little 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  71 

man  is  better,  and  he  will  soon  be  well."  The  little  face 
was  clouded  as  he  feebly  whispered,  saying:  "No,  papa; 
I  will  not  get  well/'  And  then  the  father  protested,  as 
he  said:  "You  will  get  well,  and  I  will  be  a  good  man, 
and  I  will  change  my  ways."  The  little  fellow's  face  was 
clouded,  and  he  kept  trying  to  say  something,  and  I  reached 
for  the  man  to  bend  over  to  catch  it,  and  this  is  what  we 
did  catch,  after  *awhile :  "When  I  am  gone,  papa,  I  want 
you  to  remember  that  I  loved  you,  even  if  you  did  get 
drunk."  That  sentence  broke  the  father's  heart.  He  left 
the  room,  unable  to  tarry  any  longer.  A  few  minutes  later, 
I  found  him  lying  prone  upon  his  face,  there  u-pon  the 
ground,  behind  the  little  cottage,  sobbing  with  brokenness 
of  heart.  I  got  down  by  him  and  sought  to  comfort  and 
help  him.  And  he  said :  "Sir,  after  my  child  loves  me  like 
that,  oughtn't  I  to  straighten  up  and  be  the  right  kind  of 
a  man?"  I  said :  "I  have  a  story  ten  thousand  times  sweet- 
er than  that  to  tell  you.  God's  only  begotten  Son  loved 
you  well  enough  to  come  down  from  heaven  and  die  for 
you,  himself  the  just,  for  you  the  unjust,  that  He  might 
bring  you  to  God.  Won't  you  yield  your  wasting,  sinful 
life  to  Him,  utterly  and  honestly,  and  let  Him  save  you 
His  own  divine  way?"  And  then  and  there  he  made  the 
great  surrender.  You  should  slip  into  one  of  our  prayer- 
meetings  some  night,  when  the  men  and  women  talk  about 
what  Christ  has  done  for  them,  and  one  of  the  most  ap- 
pealing and  powerful  testimonies  you  would  ever  hear  is 
the  testimony  of  this  harness  workman,  as  he  stands  up, 
always  with  tears  on  his  face,  to  tell  you  that  love  brought 
him  home  when  everything  else  had  failed.  They  criti- 
cised him  because  he  drank.  They  scolded  him  because 
he  drank.  They  railed  at  him  because  he  drank.  They 
pelted  him  with  harsh  words  because  he  drank.  But  a  little 
boy  said:  "Papa,  I  love  you  even  if  you  do  get  drunk," 
and  love  won  the  day  when  everything  else  had  failed.  Oh, 
my  fellow-men,  when  everything  else  shall  fail,  "love  never 
faileth."  Do  you  love  these  lost  men  and  women  of  Fort 
Worth?  Then,  I  pray  you,  in  the  great  Master's  name,  go 
and  tell  them  that  you  care  for  them,  and  tell  it  before  an- 
other sun  shall  sink'  to  rest  in  the  far  west  to-morrow 
evening. 


72  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Long  enough  have  I  talked,  but  I  gather  up  as  best  I 
can  all  I  should  say  for  a  final  moment  of  appeal.  Here  it 
is:  Oh,  my  fellow  Christians,  let  us  see  to  it  that  you 
and  I,  like  Andrew,  do  our  best  to  win  people  to  Christ* 
What  argument  shall  I  marshal  to  get  us  to  do  that  thing 
right  now,  and  to  get  us  to  do  that  thing  as  we  never  did 
it  before,  and  to  get  us  to  do  that  thing  these  passing  days, 
linking  our  lives  with  God  with  a  devotion,  and  giving  our- 
selves with  a  humility  and  a  personal  appeal,  such  as  we 
never  knew  before?  What  arguments  shall  I  marshal  to 
get  us  to  do  that  right  now  ?  Shall  I  talk  about  duty  ?  Then 
this  is  our  first  duty.  And  what  a  great  word  that  word 
duty  is!  Robert  E.  Lee  was  right,  that  matchless  man  of 
the  South,  when  he  wrote  to  his  son,  saying:  "Son,  the 
great  word  is  duty."  Shall  I  talk  about  duty?  My  fellow 
Christians,  your  duty  and  mine,  primal,  fundamental,  pre- 
eminent, supreme,  tremendously  urgent,  is  that  we  shall 
tell  these  around  us  that  we  want  them  saved. 

'  Shall  I  talk  about  happiness?  Oh,  was  there  ever  an- 
other happiness  on  this  earth  comparable  to  this — the  hear- 
ing from  the  lips  of  some  soul  the  glad  confession  that  you 
had  said  the  word  to  win  such  soul  to  Christ?  There  is 
no  happiness  on  this  earth  comparable  to  that. 

^  Shall  I  talk  about  responsibility?  What  shall  I  say 
about  responsibility?  Your  responsibility  and  mine  for 
these  souls  about  us  lost,  is  a  responsibility  big  enough  to 
stagger  God's  archangel.  You  are  your  brother's  keeper. 
What  if  you  neglect  him,  and  he  shall  die  in  his  sins?  If 
you  shall  neglect  him,  and  he  shall  die  in  his  sins,  when 
you  might  have  won  him,  then  it  shall  turn  out  that  you 
are  your  brother's  spiritual  murderer.  Men  can  be  killed 
by  neglect.  Women  can  be  killed  by  neglect.  A  while  ago 
there  was  condemned  to  death  in  England  a  notorious 
criminal,  one  of  the  hardest  in  all  the  records  of  crime. 
Minister  after  minister  sought  to  get  into  his  cell  before 
the  man's  execution,  to  talk  to  such  man  about  God  and 
the  hereafter,  but  he  steadfastly  refused  to  see  any  minister. 
Presently  one  somehow  got  into  the  cell,  and  began  to  talk 
with  him,  and  the  poor  m.an,  condemned  to  be  executed 
to-morrow,  realized  that  he  was  talking  at  last  with  a  miri- 


A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS  73 

ister  of  the  gospel,  and  the  minister  brought  to  bear  his 
mightiest  appeal  to  that  man  to  turn  to  God,  even  in  those 
last  waiting  hours.  The  man  was  stolid  and  was  utterly 
indifferent,  and  presently  the  minister  said  to  the  man: 
"Don't  you  realize  that  in  a  few  hours  more  your  life  shall 
be  taken  and  you  shall  be  in  another  world?"  He  said: 
"Quite  well,  sir,  do  I  realize  that  my  life  will  be  taken,  but 
whether  there  is  another  world  or  not,  I  do  not  know,  and 
I  have  not  any  concern  about  that."  And  then  the  minister 
urged  and  remonstrated  and  pleaded,  and  at  last  the  con- 
demned man  rose  up  and  said  to  him:  "Sir,  if  I  believed 
like  you  say,  that  a  man  dying  without  Christ  is  lost,  and 
shall  be  lost  forever— if  I  believed  that  and  had  your  chance, 
I  would  crawl  on  my  knees  to  tell  the  men  of  England, 
before  it  is  too  late,  to  repent  of  their  sins  and  turn  to  God." 

Oh,  do  we  believe  it,  that  these  men  and  women  about 
us,  and  the  dear  young  people  under  our  own  roofs,  and 
the  devoted  husbands,  beside  whom  walk  gentle.  Christian 
wives — do  we  believe  that  these  men  are  lost,  and  that  these 
young  people  are  lost?  Do  we  believe  it?  Then,  I  pray 
you,  even  as  I  summon  myself,  let  us  go  to  them  in  the 
right  spirit,  pleading  with  God  to  teach  us,  to  empower 
us,  to  enable  us  to  plead  that  now,  before  the  day  is  gone, 
they  may  repent  of  sin  and  be  saved  forever. 

My  message  is  done  when  I  shall  have  asked  one  ques- 
tion. Mark  it :  Do  these  Christian  men  and  women  listen- 
ing to  me  to-night,  down  in  their  hearts  really  wish  t^iat 
sinners  shall  be  saved  during  these  days  of  special  meetings? 
Probably  hundreds  here  present  answer  me  back :  "Sir,  that 
is  our  deep  wish,  that  sinners  may  be  saved?"  But  I  am 
going  to  make  it  stronger  than  that.  Do  these  Christian 
men  and  women  listening  to  me  this  Wednesday  night  say : 
"Sir,  I  promise  you,  yea,  sir,  I  promise  God,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  and  of  angels  and  men,  I  declare  my  promise, 
not  only  do  I  desire  to  see  sinners  saved  in  these  special 
meetings,  but  I  will  try  myself,  frail  as  I  am  and  weak  as 
I  am — I  will  try  myself,  like  Andrew,  to  win  somebody  to 
Christ?"     Do  you  say:     "That  is  my  wish,  sir,  and  that 


74  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

is  my  purpose,  God  helping  me  ?''     Everyone  who  says  that, 
stand  to  your  feet. 

^A  great  number  stood.) 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

Give  us  thy  counsel  and  comfort,  our  Father,  this  hour,  when  our  hearts  have 
been  searched  by  thy  Word  of  truth,  and  in  these  last  moments,  ere  we  separate, 
we  make  our  appeal  to  thee,  that  we  may  translate  into  life,  into  power,  into  ac- 
tion, this  message  from  thy  Book  this  night.  How  we  rejoice  that  many  in  this 
presence  stand,  quietly  and  humbly,  but  courageously,  to  say  that  they  not  only 
desire  to  see  sinners  saved,  but,  what  is  of  far  more  meaning,  they  purpose,  look- 
ing to  thee,  O  God,  to  help  them,  to  strive  personally  to  win  others  to  Christ,  in 
the  hours  and  days  just  before  us.  O  Divine  Spirit,  rest  thou  upon  every  head 
and  heart,  and  be  on  every  tongue,  and  send  us  to  the  right  persons,  and  give  us 
to  speak  what  and  as  we  ovight  to  speak  to  them  concerning  their  personal  salva- 
tion. Go  thou  before  us,  and  prepare  the  heart,  that  we  shall  speak  to,  and  open 
the  understanding,  and  make  the  soul  to  be  concerned  by  thine  own  life-giv- 
ing touch,  thine  own  spiritual  illumination.  Our  gracious  Father,  let  these 
days  be  days  when  preachers  and  laymen,  when  parents  and  children,  when 
Christians  of  every  age  and  name,  shall  personally  dedicate  their  very  best  to 
win  the  people  to  Christ.  Let  this  be  the  time  when  the  people  all  about  us, 
of  all  conditions  and  classes  and  needs  shall  have  brought  home  to  them  the  all 
important  truth  that  to  live  without  God  is  to  live  vainly,  is  to  miss  the  true 
end  of  being.  Let  the  truth,  terrible  and  sure,  be  written  like  fire  in  every 
conscience,  that  to  live  contrary  to  the  will  _  of  God  is  to  come  to  defeat  and 
death.  And  let  this  be  a  time  when,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  men  and 
women  and  children  shall  come  with  honest,  earnest  and  complete  surrender  of 
their   lives  to   Christ. 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all.    Amen. 


VI 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  14,  1917. 
WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS? 

Text:  "Then  said  Jesus  unto  the  twelve:  Will  ye  also  go  away?  Then 
Simon  Peter  answered  Him,  Lord  to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life."— John  6:67,  68. 

In  a  very  frank  way,  and  with  a  deep  desire  to  help  you,  I 
should  like  to  ask  you,  one  by  one,  the  personal  question,  What 
are  your  relations  to  Jesus,  the  Savior  and  Master  ?  Every  one 
must  have  personal  relations  with  Him.  We  must  be  His 
friends  or  His  foes.  We  must  be  for  Him  or  against  Him. 
What  are  your  ^personal  relations  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ? 
Are  you  for  Him  or  against  Him  ? 

Once  when  He  was  here  among  men  in  the  flesh,  and  the 
multitudes  were  following  Him,  and  He  was  teaching  them 
pungently  what  following  Him  meant,  the  crowds  were  deplet- 
ed, and  grew  less  and  less  before  His  searching  teaching,  and 
finally  He  turned  to  the  twelve  apostles,  who  were  following 
Him,  and  put  to  them  this  plaintive  question :  "Will  ye  also  go 
away?"  Then  Simon  Peter  answered  Him,  "Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go?    Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

Our  text  this  morning  is  that  searching  question  Jesus  asked 
the  twelve:  "Will  ye  also  go  away?"  The  text  suggests  two 
burning  questions  for  us  this  morning.  Why  do  people  go 
away  from  Jesus?  Where  do  they  go?  God  give  us  to  face 
faithfully  for  a  little  while  at  this  midday  service  these  two 
weighty  questions. 

Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus?  The  fundamental 
reason  is  want  of  grace  in  the  heart,  the  lack  of  true  faith, 
the  absence  of  vital  Godliness.     The  Apostle  John  tells  us: 

"5 


76  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

"They  went  out  from  us,  but  they  were  not  of  us ;  for  if  they 
had  been  of  us,  they  would  no  doubt  have  continued  with  us : 
but  they  went  out  from  us  that  they  might  be  made  manifest 
that  they  were  not  all  of  us."  But  we  are  back  to  that  search- 
ing question,  Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus  ?  Many  do 
go  away  from  Him.  Why?  Now,  the  outward  reasons  for 
their  going  reveal  what  is  in  their  hearts,  and  we  may  glance 
this  morning  at  some  of  these  outward  reasons  why  people  go 
away  from  Jesus. 

Here,  on  the  occasion  of  our  text,  they  went  away  from 
Him  because  they  objected  to  His  teaching.  Through  the  long 
centuries,  again  and  again,  many  have  manifestly  gone  away 
from  Jesus  because  they  objected  to  His  teaching.  Read  the 
context  here  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel,  and  you 
will  hear  the  multitudes  as  they  cry  out  under  His  teaching: 
''This  is  a  hard  saying;  who  can  hear  it?"  And  so  they  turned 
away  from  Him  because  they  objected  to  His  teaching.  The 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  friends,  is  very  humbling  to  poor 
human  nature.  Pride  revolts  at  the  gospel  of  Christ.  And  yet 
such  gospel  is  not  designed  to  please  m.an,  but  rather  to  save 
him.  Jesus  comes  in  His  appeal  to  men,  and  puts  before  them 
the  clear  demand :  "If  you  would  have  me  for  your  Savior,  I 
must  come  first,  before  father  or  mother  or  children  or  dearest 
loved  ones,  or  your  own  property  or  your  own  life.  I  must 
come  first."  That  is  not  easy.  That  is  death  to  self.  That  is 
self -crucifixion.  And  yet  you  would  not  have  it  any  other  way. 
Let  us  make  religion  easy  and  we  will  play  it  out.  Let  us  make 
religion  hard,  even  with  the  hardness  of  the  terms  of  disciple- 
ship  laid  down  by  Jesus,  and  it  will  be  triumphant  anywhere 
in  the  world. 

Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus?  Full  many  a  time 
they  go  away  from  Him  because  of  the  fear  of  man.  That  is 
indeed  a  biting  saying  in  the  Bible,  where  it  is  declared :  "The 
fear  of  man  bringeth  a  snare."  Pilate  was  not  the  only  man 
who  betrayed  Jesus,  and  in  that  same  act  betrayed  himself 
through  the  fear  of  man.  All  about  us  the  fear  of  man  plays 
the  most  desperate  havoc  in  human  life.  All  through  the  social 
order,  in  the  world  intellectual,  and  the  world  of  business,  and 
the  world  political,  and  the  world  social,  the  highest  interests 
are  betrayed,  and  the  supreme  call  of  Christ  set  aside,  through 


WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS?    77 

the  fear  of  men.  There  comes  in  the  tragic  power  and  peril  of 
influence.  What  can  some  men  mean,  and  women,  by  the 
tragical  misuse,  the  desperate  waste,  of  their  highest  influence? 
One  waits  for  another,  and  one  acts  because  of  another,  or  one 
does  not  act  because  another  does  not,  and  all  through  the 
social  order  the  fear  of  man  is  one  of  the  ravaging  wastes  of 
the  highest  influence  that  comes  to  human  life.  They  tell  us 
that  in  the  capital  city  of  one  of  the  older  States,  in  the  long 
ago,  a  marvelous  meeting  was  led  by  that  eminent  American 
evangelist,  Charles  G.  Finney,  probably  the  ablest  evangelist 
that  America  ever  saw.  He  preached  there  some  three  months, 
and  thousands  came  to  Christ.  When  he  was  preaching  there 
one  night,  the  story  goes  that  there  slipped  into  the  great  audi- 
ence to  hear  him  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  highest  court  of 
New  York  State.  The  learned  Justice  came  out  of  sheer 
curiosity  to  hear  a  plain,  pungent,  powerful  speaker.  It  was 
not  his  custom  to  go  to  church.  Not  for  years  had  he  been 
at  any  public  service  religious,  and  yet  this  evening  the  preach- 
er brought  his  message  to  bear  on  the  conscience  of  this  man, 
taking  for  his  text:  ''No  man  liveth  to  himself,'*  and  when 
the  minister  had  finished  his  message,  he  said:  "Now,  I  ask, 
appealing  to  your  judgment  and  your  conscience" — ^that  is 
Christ's  appeal  always — to  men's  judgments  and  to  men's  con- 
sciences —  His  religion  does  not  need  any  other  kind  of 
appeal — when  the  minister  had  finished  his  appeal,  he  said: 
**Now,  is  some  man's  judgment  convinced,  and  is  his  con- 
science searched  by  the  truth  spoken  to-night,  and  will  he,  for 
his  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  everybody  else  whom  he 
may  influence,  make  his  public  surrender  to  Christ?"  And 
down  the  long  aisle  came  the  Chief  Justice,  to  make  his  con- 
fession of  Christ.  When  he  took  the  m^inister's  hand,  the 
Justice  said:  "If  you  will  allow  me,  I  should  like  even  now 
to  turn  and  speak  some  w^ords  to  this  waiting  audience."  And 
facing  them,  the  dignified  Justice  said:  "If  I  have  any  in- 
fluence over  anybody,  I  beg  him  to  do  as  I  have  done,  to  yield 
life  and  all,  utterly  and  now,  to  Christ."  And  he  called  for 
God's  forgiving  mercy,  that  he  himself  had  so  long  delayed 
to  make  that  greaJ:  surrender.  It  is  said  that  many  lawyers  at 
the  bar,  there  assembled  in  that  vast  audience,  came  down 
every  aisle,  and  stood  around  the  great  minister  and  Chief 
Justice,  and  said  to  the  Judge:    "O  sir,  because  you  have 


78  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

come,  and  because  of  your  appeal,  we,  too,  will  make  our 
surrender  to  Christ."  What  if  the  great  Judge  had  not  come  ? 
O  my  soul,  I  know  the  man,  and  you  know  him,  who  has  not 
come,  and  yet,  because  he  has  not,  there  shelter  behind  him 
others,  who  perhaps  will  continue  thus  to  hide  behind  him 
as  long  as  he  shall  stay  away  from  Christ. 

Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus?  Full  many  a  time 
they  go  away  from  Him,  through  captious  doubts  and  ques- 
tions concerning  religion.  Many  people  ask.  What  if  this  and 
that  be  not  so  ?  What  if  the  Bible  be  not  trustworthy  ?  What 
if  Christ  be  not  divine?  What  if  there  be  no  immortality  for 
the  soul?  What  if  there  be  no  heaven  for  Christ's  friend, 
and  no  hell  for  those  who  will  not  have  Christ?  What  if 
those  things  be  not  so?  And  with  question  marks,  like  that, 
they  turn  away  from  the  vital  verities  of  faith,  and  miss 
the  way  of  life.  Do  I  speak  this  midday  hour  to  some  man 
or  woman  who  is  in  the  grip  of  some  serious  religious  doubt? 
Then  I  call  to  you,  do  not  trifle  with  that  doubt.  Probe  that 
doubt,  I  pray  you,  to  its  very  depth.  Superficial  dealing  with 
doubts  in  the  realm  of  religion  is  utterly  inexcusable.  Well 
has  some  one  said  that  "doubt  is  the  agony  of  some  earnest 
soul,  or  the  trifling  of  some  superficial  fool."  Do  not  trifle 
with  your  doubts.  You  have  too  much  at  stake,  if  you  have 
doubts,  in  this  lofty  realm  of  religion,  to  go  along  carelessly 
with  such  doubts.  Doubt  is  caused  in  various  ways  and 
comes  from  various  sources.  There  is  the  doubt  of  the  head. 
Nathanael  had  such  doubt.  "Can  there  any  good  thing  come 
out  of  Nazareth?"  he  asked,  and  the  answer  was  given  him: 
"Come  and  see,"  and  he  came  and  saw. 

There  is  the  doubt  of  the  heart.  Some  disappointment 
comes,  beating  us  into  the  dust.  Some  poignant  sorrow  comes 
to  blind  us  and  to  smite  us  and  to  check  us.  John  the  Bap- 
tist had  such  doubt.  Those  fine  plans  and  hopes  that  swept 
through  his  mind  and  heart  seemed  all  crushed  as  he  lay  there 
in  the  jail,  and  he  sent  some  of  his  men  to  ask  the  pitiful 
question  of  Jesus :  "Art  thou  He  that  should  come,  or  do  we 
look  for  another?"  Be  patient  with  somebody  in  doubt,  when 
the  dark  and  cloudy  day  is  on,  when  the  black  Friday  presses 
down  upon  the  spirit  with  its  fearful  pressure.  But  I  have 
come  to  believe,  my  fellow-men,  that  doubt  is  caused  by  a 


WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS?    79 

wrong  life  more  than  by  anything  else  in  all  the  world.  Time 
and  again  when  I  have  come  into  close  quarters  with  the  man 
who  spoke  out  his  doubts  and  paraded  them  and  defended 
them,  I  have  found  on  careful  inquiry,  full  many  a  time,  that 
underneath  and  behind  that  doubt,  and  evidently  occasioning 
that  doubt,  was  some  wrong  life.  If  a  man  will  come  with 
right  attitude  in  the  sight  of  God,  he  shall  be  delivered  from 
every  doubt,  which  leads  me  to  call  your  attention  to  that 
great  challenge  Jesus  has  given.  Notice  it:  *'If  any  man 
willeth  to  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether 
it  is  of  God."  That  is  as  broad  as  the  race.  That  is  as  com- 
prehensive as  humanity.  ^*If  any  man  willeth  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God." 
Let  any  human  being,  no  matter  what  the  question,  what  the 
fear,  what  the  doubt,  what  the  difficulty,  assume  a  perfectly 
honest  attitude  tov/ard  God,  saying:  "I  want  light,  and  if  thou 
wilt  give  it,  no  matter  how,  I  will  follow  it,"  such  person 
surely  shall  be  brought  into  the  light.  Tim^e  and  again  you 
have  seen,  as  I  have  seen,  that  challenge  of  Jesus  frankly  ac- 
cepted and  frankly  proved,  and  men  have  been  brought  out 
of  the  darkness  into  the  glorious  liberty  and  light  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God. 

I  was  in  an  Eastern  city,  some  years  ago,  for  some  two 
weeks  in  a  daily  mission,  and  every  evening  when  I  would 
finish  my  message,  I  said,  as  was  their  custom:  "If  there  are 
interested  men  and  women,  who  would  tarry  behind  for  per- 
sonal dealings  touching  personal  religion,  they  will  pass 
through  this  door  into  the  smaller  auditorium,  and  the  rest 
may  go  while  we  are  singing  the  last  hymn."  I  stood  there 
at  the  door,  to  greet  the  people  as  they  passed  into  the 
smaller  auditorium  for  more  careful  and  for  closer  personal 
dealings,  and  along  with  the  men  who  came  this  particular 
evening,  there  came  an  attractive  looking  man  some  thirty-six 
or  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  he  tarried  at  the  door  to 
speak  with  me,  fairly  trembling  as  he  did  so,  and  yet  putting 
on  a  brave  face.  He  said  to  me  as  he  tarried  there  at  the 
door:  "Well,  sir,  I  do  not  believe  a  word  you  said  to-night." 
I  replied:  "Then,  pray,  why  do  you  tarry?  My  invitation 
was  for  serious  people.  My  invitation  was  for  men  and  wo- 
men in  earnest,  for  those  with  a  desire  deep  and  true  to  find 


80  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

light  ami  to  get  help.  Why  do  you  tarry?"  "Oh,"  he  said, 
"I  thought  I  would  like  to  see  you  at  close  range,  and  to  hear 
what  you  said  to  these  men  in  this  room,  and  therefore  I 
have  come  along."  I  felt  that  I  could  see  underneath  all 
that  brave  exterior  an  interest  deeper  than  he  was  willing  at 
all  for  me  to  know,  and  I  said:  "You  tarry,  and  when  the 
others  are  gone,  then  I  should  like  to  have  some  words  with 
you  alone."  And  so  he  did,  and  when  the  other  service  was 
finished,  I  had  him  alone,  and  as  I  sat  beside  him  I  asked  him : 
"What  brought  you  into  this  place?  What  gave  you  these 
doubts?  Whence  came  all  this  uncertainty  in  your  spirit 
concerning  religion  ?"  He  told  me  a  story  that  I  have  neither 
the  time  nor  the  inclination  here  to  repeat.  He  was  the  son 
of  a  minister  in  old  Virginia.  He  was  reared  like  a  boy  ought 
to  be  reared,  and  yet  he  had  got  far  away  from  all  that 
rearing,  having  been  absent  from  home  some  fifteen  years. 
Then  I  said  to  him :  "If  these  things  I  preach  to  you  tonight 
are  true,  wouldn't  you  like  to  know  the  truth  of  it  all?"  He 
made  quick  response:  "Certainly,  I  should  like  to  know  the 
truth  of  it  all."  Then  I  said:  "You  can  know  it.  Here  is 
the  challenge  of  Jesus:  Tf  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God.' "  I  said : 
"Now  as  I  bow  my  head,  I  will  speak  to  your  father's  God 
and  to  my  God,  and  I  will  ask  Him  just  to  lead  you  on,  and 
to  fill  you  with  desire  and  purpose  to  follow  His  leading." 
And  when  I  had  finished  the  prayer  I  said,  as  we  were  bowed 
there  at  our  chairs :  "Let  us  remain  bowed,  and  you  try  for  a 
moment  to  pray."  He  started  back  and  said:  "Why,  man, 
I  would  not  know  how  to  begin.  I  have  not  tried  even  in  a 
dozen  years."  Think  of  a  man's  going  a  dozen  years  without 
calling  on  God!  It  seems  impossible.  "I  would  not  know 
how  to  begin,"  he  said.  I  answered:  "Then  I  will  frame  a 
sentence  for  you,  like  I  would  frame  it  for  my  little  child, 
and  you  say  it  after  me."  And  so  I  did,  and  he  repeated 
it,  and  I  framed  a  second  sentence,  and  he  repeated  that,  and 
a  third  sentence,  and  he  repeated  that,  and  then  I  paused  and 
said:  "Prayer,  sir,  is  the  sanest  thing  in  the  world.  Prayer  is 
the  outcry  of  a  little,  needy,  finite,  mortal  being,  to  a  great  in- 
finite, omniscient,  omnipotent,  all  powerful,  all  merciful  Being. 
Tell  Him  what  you  would  like.  Tell  Him  like  you  would  tell  2. 
man  something  you  should  hasten  to  tell  him,  without  any 


WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS?    81 

reserve."  And  then,  timidly  and  tremblingly  and  haltingly  he 
began  his  prayer.  In  a  moment  or  two  his  words  came  faster. 
In  a  moment  or  two  his  sentences  rushed  like  a  torrent.  He 
was  confessing  his  sins.  He  was  bewailing  his  dreadful  de- 
cline, and  memory  was  burning  like  fire,  and  it  blazed  and 
burned,  as  he  recalled  the  old  home,  with  the  family  prayer, 
and  the  father  as  a  preacher,  and  the  mother  singing  the  sim- 
ple songs  of  faith.  And  then  he  went  on  and  said:  **I  re- 
member. Lord,  the  last  sermon  I  heard  good  father  preach. 
He  preached  from  that  text,  the  cry  of  the  publican :  'God,  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.'"  He  said:  "That  is  my  prayer. 
Be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.  I  give  up  to  thee.  Help  thou 
a  helpless  sinner!"  And  then  he  was  still,  and  then  in  a 
moment  more  he  was  on  his  feet,  and  I  looked  up  at  him 
and  waited  for  him  to  make  his  pronouncement,  and  then  he 
looked  down  earnestly  at  me,  with  his  outstretched  hand,  and 
said:  "I  have  found  the  light!"  Of  course  he  had  found  the 
light.  Any  man  on  the  earth  who  will  assume  the  right  atti- 
tude toward  Jesus  shall  be  brought  into  the  light. 

My  indictment  against  the  skeptic  who  prates  against  the 
things  of  God  is  that  he  will  not  be  candid  about  it  and  go 
deep  enough.  Any  man  in  the  world,  doubter,  skeptic,  atheist, 
materialist,  whoever  he  is,  who  will  assume  a  perfectly  candid 
and  obedient  attitude  toward  God,  shall  surely  be  brought  into 
the  light. 

Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus?  Full  many  a  time 
they  go  away  from  Him  through  the  power  of  sensual  enjoy- 
ments. There  are  two  Scriptures  that  set  forth  that  truth. 
Here  they  are :  "The  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,"  and  this 
other :  "Lovers  of  pleasures  more  than  lovers  of  God."  Through 
the  power  of  sensual  enjoyment,  full  many  a  time  men  and 
women  miss  the  upward  way  and  go  the  downward  way  to 
doom  and  death.  And  yet  this  world  has  in  it  nothing  that 
can  really  satisfy  the  ache  of  the  human  heart.  That  bril- 
liant Frenchman,  Sabatier,  was  right,  when  he  said:  "Man  is 
incurably  religious."  And  then  the  Bible  comes  on,  with  its 
revealing  statement,  telling  us  that  God  hath  set  eternity  in  the 
human  heart,  and  therefore  nothing  less  than  the  eternal  can 
satisfy  the  human  heart.  Temporal  things,  no  matter  how 
many,  cannot  satisfy  the  human  heart. 


82  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

This  world  can  never  give 

The   bliss   for   which   men   sigh. 
'Tis  not  the  whole  of  life  to  live, 

Nor  all   of  death  to   die. 

Beyond  this  vale  of  tears 

There   is   a   life  above. 
Unmeasured   by    the   flight   of   years, 

And   all   that  life  is   love. 

Nothing  short  of  the  infinite  and  the  eternal  can  satisfy 
any  human  heart. 

Why  do  people  go  away  from  Christ?  Full  many  a  time 
they  go  away  from  Him  through  the  simple,  fearful,  fateful 
power  of  procrastination.  They  tell  us  that  procrastination 
is  the  thief  of  time,  and  so  it  is,  but,  oh,  it  is  so  much  more 
than  that.  Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  souls !  All  about  us 
are  men  and  women  who  intend  somewhere,  sometime,  to 
focus  their  thoughts  on  the  things  of  God,  and  to  say  "yes" 
to  the  call  of  Christ,  and  yet  through  the  power  of  procrasti- 
nation they  are  hurried  on  and  daily  lulled  the  more  deeply  to 
sleep,  and  the  conscience  is  deadened,  and  the  days  go  by  and 
the  highest  things  are  lost.  All  about  us  there  are  men  and 
women  who,  when  we  approach  them  concerning  personal 
religion,  will  tell  us  that  they  intend  to  say  yes  to  Christ,  that 
they  desire  to  be  saved,  that  they  fully  expect  this  important 
matter  of  personal  salvation  to  be  settled  a  little  later.  But 
it  is  a  little  later  that  they  say.  It  is  to-morrow.  It  is  by  and 
by.  Down  yonder  on  the  Mexican  border,  where  I  have  often 
and  joyfully  preached  to  the  cattlemen  through  the  passing 
years,  I  have  heard  one  cry  escape  the  Mexicans'  lips  which  is 
revelatory  to  a  remarkable  degree  of  the  Mexican  character. 
It  would  explain  why  Mexico  is  so  belated  in  the  development 
of  her  civilization.  That  little  word  that  the  Mexican  uses 
so  frequently  is  this:  "Mananal"  "To-morrow!"  You  may 
crowd  upon  him  this  duty,  or  that,  or  the  other,  and  he  will 
consent  to  what  you  are  saying,  but  in  an  undertone  he  will 
say:  ^'Manana!  Manana!  Manana!"  To-morrow  To-morrow! 
To-morrow !  And  so  it  is  Satan's  supreme  cry  to  the  human 
soul  concerning  religion — ''Manana !  Mariana !"  To-morrow ! 
To-morrow !  And  as  he  cries  it,  men  and  women  are  beguiled 
and  cajoled  and  deceived,  and  thus  the  battle  is  forever  lost 
for  the  human  soul.  May  God  now  arouse  this  audience  from 
the  awful  peril  of  procrastination,  that  you  may  turn  to  God 
and  be  saved! 


WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS?    83 

I  am  coming  to  our  second  question  briefly.  I  have  asked 
you,  Why  do  people  go  away  from  Jesus  ?  Now  to  the  second 
question  more  briefly,  Where  do  they  go?  Echo  answers, 
Where?  Where  do  they  go ?  Well,  if  they  are  Christians  and 
go  away  from  Jesus,  as  many  of  them,  alas,  do,  they  go  into 
backslidings.  Oh,  what  stories  could  be  told  in  this  fair  city 
about  us,  and  in  any  other,  of  drifting  Christians,  if  only  hearts 
were  revealed,  and  we  could  read  all  that  in  them  is.  Back- 
slidden Christians!  David  went  away  from  his  Lord,  and, 
oh,  the  hurt  of  it!  Samson  went  away  from  his  Lord.  Oh, 
the  hurt  of  it !  Simon  Peter  denied  the  Lord.  Oh,  the  shame 
of  it  and  the  hurt  of  it!  And  through  the  long  years  the 
friends  of  Jesus  have  listened  to  siren  voices  and  have  gone 
away  from  the  right  path  into  backsliding.  How  they  have 
harmed  religion!  How  they  have  harmed  souls  for  whom 
the  Savior  died!  How  they  have  harmed  themselves!  How 
they  have  grieved  Jesus !  Do  I  speak  to  somebody  here  today 
who  is  a  backslidden  Christian?  Oh,  I  exhort  you,  I  summon 
you,  I  beseech  you,  for  your  own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of 
everybody  else,  hasten  back  to  Christ ! 

I  ask  you  this  other  question:  Where  do  people  go  when 
they  go  away  from  Jesus,  those  that  are  not  saved  at  all,  those 
that  are  not  born  again,  where  do  they  go  when  they  go  away 
from  Jesus?  Jesus  tells  us  in  language  unmistakable.  "Ye 
shall  die  in  your  sins,"  He  said  to  some  who  cavilled  at  His 
teachings,  "and  whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come."  You  ask  me 
if  I  believe  in  the  fact  of  hell.  I  believe  in  the  fact  of  hell  as 
much  as  I  believe  in  the  fact  of  heaven,  and  I  believe  in  the 
fact  of  the  one  for  the  same  reason  that  I  believe  in  the  fact 
of  the  other.  The  one  clear  teacher  concerning  destiny,  con- 
cerning the  hereafter,  was  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  and  He 
teaches  that  every  man  dying  "shall  go  to  his  ov/n  place." 
Moral  gravity  is  as  real  in  the  world  of  morals  as  physical 
gravity  is  real  in  the  world  natural  and  physical  about  us. 
Every  man  shall  go  to  his  own  place  when  he  leaves  this  world. 
If  a  man  says  to  Jesus:  "I  will  go  on  without  you,"  where 
Jesus  is,  such  man  shall  not  come.  If  a  man  says  to  Jesus: 
"I  disdain  all  else,  frail  as  I  am  and  sinful,  and  I  believe  on 
Christ,  I  can  do  nothing  else,  God  help  me,"  when  such  man 
goes  hence,  he  will  go  to  be  with  Christ. 


84  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Now,  if  you  go  away  from  Christ,  pray  look  at  what  you 
give  up.  If  you  go  away  from  Jesus  you  must  give  up  this 
Book.  Christ  and  the  Bible  are  indissolubly  linked  together. 
If  you  can  get  rid  of  the  Bible,  you  can  get  rid  of  Christ. 
If  you  can  get  rid  of  Christ,  you  can  get  rid  of  the  Bible.  The 
one  is  the  complement  and  counterpart  of  the  other.  Christ 
and  the  Bible  are  the  binomial  word  of  God.  If  you  get  rid 
of  Christ  you  get  rid  of  the  Bible,  and  if  you  propose  to  get 
rid  of  the  Bible,  sing  no  more  by  the  open  grave  that  shep- 
herd's psalm,  the  twenty-third.  Sing  no  more  by  the  open 
grave,  when  you  hide  your  loved  ones  from  your  sight,  the 
glorious  fourteenth  chapter  of  John:  "Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled.'*  You  are  done  with  Christ,  if  you  are  done  with 
the  Bible,  and  if  done  with  Christ,  you  are  done  with  the  Bible. 

What  else  do  you  get  rid  of  when  you  get  rid  of  Christ? 
You  discredit  the  testimony  of  every  friend  that  Jesus  has 
ever  had  in  all  the  world,  and  He  has  had  friends  many,  both 
great  and  small.  Many  of  the  world's  most  capable  minds 
have  been  the  devoutest  friends  and  followers  of  Jesus.  Glad- 
stone said  he  knew  sixty  of  the  greatest  minds  of  his  century, 
and  that  fifty-four  of  them — scientists,  statesmen,  mighty  men 
in  all  callings — were  the  devoutest  friends  of  Jesus  that  he 
ever  saw.  Oh,  this  gospel  that  we  preach,  my  men  and  women, 
is  not  a  collection  of  cunningly  devised  fables  for  people  silly 
and  thoughtless.  The  sanest  thing  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
this  Thursday  morning  is  for  a  man  or  woman  to  be  pro- 
nouncedly the  friend  of  Christ — that  is  the  sanest  thing  of  all. 
Jesus  is  the  needed  Savior  for  the  great  as  well  as  the  weak. 
Will  you  look  over  the  world's  great  names?  In  the  list  you 
will  find  many  friends  and  followers  of  Jesus.  Look  yonder 
at  the  list  of  scientists,  and  in  that  list  you  will  see  Miller 
and  Agassiz  and  Proctor,  bowing  obediently  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus.  Look  at  the  world's  astronomers,  and  you  will  see 
Copernicus  and  Kepler  and  Newton  showing  their  devotion  to 
Jesus.  Look  at  the  world's  first  statesmen,  and  you  will  see 
Washington  and  Gladstone  and  others  like  them,  showing  their 
devotion  to  Jesus.  And  so  through  the  centuries  you  will  see 
the  earth's  first  minds  devotedly  following  Christ. 

But  T  would  bring  the  truth  nearer  you  than  that.  There 
in  the  little  circles  where  you  and  I  live,  are  some  whose  names 


WHY  DO  SOULS  GO  AWAY  FROM  JESUS?    85 

never  get  into  the  newspapers  at  all,  but  you  and  I  believe 
in  them  as  we  believe  in  nobody  else  in  the  world,  and  they 
tell  us  that  they  have  tried  Jesus  and  found  Him  true.  Yonder 
in  the  United  States  Senate  some  time  ago,  when  a  group  of 
senators  were  at  a  dinner,  as  the  story  was  told  me  by  one 
who  knew,  one  senator  looked  across  to  the  chiefest  senator 
at  that  time  in  the  Senate,  and  said  to  him:  "Senator,  do  you 
believe  in  that  old  doctrine  that  a  man  must  be  born  again  to 
get  to  heaven?"  The  senator  after  a  moment's  pause  made 
serious  reply:  "I  certainly  do.  I  am  grieved  to  have  to  tell 
you  that  I  am  not  a  Christian  myself,  but  I  believe  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  new  birth  as  preached  by  Christ."  Then  the 
first  senator,  wincing  under  the  remarkable  answer,  said  to 
the  second,  after  a  moment  more:  "Pray  tell  me  why  you 
believe  in  that  old  exploded  doctrine  of  the  new  birth?"  The 
senator  waited  a  moment,  and  his  face  was  serious  and  a  tear 
was  in  his  eye,  as  he  said :  "My  mother  and  my  wife  have  both 
told  me  that  they  surrendered  to  Christ,  and  have  been  born 
again,  and  they  both  live  like  it  is  so."  You  cannot  answer 
that! 

I  detain  you  for  a  final  word.  If  you  go  away  from  Jesus 
you  are  left  baffled  and  broken  in  the  presence  of  the  three 
greatest  mysteries  of  all,  and  I  name  them,  and  then  we  will 
go.  If  you  go  away  from  Jesus  you  are  left  broken  and  baffled 
in  the  presence  of  sin.  You  have  no  Savior  if  you  reject  Jesus. 
He  is  the  only  Savior.  And  the  most  terrible  and  obtruding 
fact  on  the  earth  this  Thursday  morning  is  the  fact  of  sin  in 
human  life.  If  you  get  rid  of  Jesus  you  have  no  Savior  from 
sin. 

And  if  you  get  rid  of  Jesus  you  are  left  beaten  and  broken, 
with  all  the  sorrow  that  is  regnant  in  human  life.  Pause 
anywhere  and  you  will  hear  the  undertone  of  sorrow — any- 
where. If  you  get  rid  of  Jesus  you  have  no  delivering  friend 
from  the  thralldom  of  sorrow. 

And  still  more,  and  most  of  all,  if  you  get  rid  of  Jesus 
you  are  left  in  the  presence  of  death,  without  light  and  without 
hope  and  without  life,  broken  in  the  presence  of  death.  When 
you  come  to  the  grave  you  will  need  a  Savior.  Plato  and 
Socrates  merely  speculated  as  they  looked  into  the  open  grave. 
So  did  Caesar  when  he  stood  up  in  the  Roman  Senate.    Job 


SQ  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

asked  the  question:  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again?'*  Only 
one  person  has  answered  that  question.  Only  one  can  answer 
it,  and  His  name  is  Jesus.  He  came  and  bowed  His  head  to 
death,  and  went  into  the  dark  chambers  of  the  grave,  and  on 
the  third  day  after  they  laid  Him  in  Joseph's  tomb,  He  pushed 
the  grave  door  open  and  came  out,  saying:  "Because  I  live 
all  who  trust  me  shall  live  forever."  Oh,  you  must  not  dare  to 
live  or  die  without  Jesus ! 

'Tis  religion  that  can  give 
Sweetest    pleasures    while    we    live. 
'Tis   religion  must   supply- 
Solid   comfort  when   we   die. 

After  death  its  joys  will  be 
Lasting   as   eternity. 
Be   the   living   God   my   friend. 
Then  my  joys  will  never  end. 

Tell  me,  are  you  for  Jesus  ?  I  would  be  for  Him,  were  I 
in  your  place  today,  if  I  had  to  go  through  flame  and  flood 
to  follow  Him.  Be  for  Him  before  it  is  too  late!  Does  He 
call  you  today?  Follow  Him,  trust  Him,  yield  yourself  to 
Him  whatever  your  condition  or  case  may  be,  and  His  word 
for  you  is  sure:  "Him  that  cometh  to  me,  I  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out." 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

How  deep  is  our  joy,  O,  our  Father,  that  we  have  such  a  Savior,  even  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  forgive  us  and  guide  us  and  keep  us  forever,  As_we  stand 
here  to-day  may  we  promise  one  another,  and  above  all  may  we  promise  Christ 
to  cleave  to  Him  and  to  cleave  to  Him  forever.  And  if  one  is  here  to-day  in  the 
grip  of  doubt  or  sin  or  difficulty  of  any  kind,  lead  such  to  be  candid  and  whole- 
hearted, as  such  one  seeks  the  way  of  life,  and  may  such  one  soon  tell  us  that 
he  or  she  has  found  that  blessed  way  and  is  going  with  us  as  we  follow  Christ. 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  love  of 
God  the  Father,  and  the  communion  and  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  granted 
you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  to-day  and  forever.    Amen. 


VII 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  14,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  if  we  might  know  the  ex- 
periences that  God's  people  have  had  to-day  in  this  com- 
munity, as  here  and  there  they  have  had  conversations  with 
others  about  personal  religion.  I  am  constrained  to  ask 
how  many  Christians  gathered  in  this  large  assemblage 
to-night  have  made  it  a  point  to  speak  an  earnest  word 
with  somebody  to-day  about  personal  religion?  Did  you 
do  your  best?  Were  you  faithful?  Then  you  may  gladly 
leave  the  result  with  God. 

And  now  I  come  to  ask  if  every  Christian  listening  to 
me  will  not  make  it  a  point — a  point  of  conscience — will 
not  put  it  upon  high  principle,  to  speak  to  somebody,  even 
to  as  many  as  you  may  and  ought,  about  personal  religion, 
before  we  come  here  to  this  tent  again  to-morrow  night? 
Can't  you  give  an  hour  to  that  weightiest  of  all  matters, 
the  effort  to  help  others  in  the  right  care  of  the  soul  ?  And 
if  it  could  not  be  an  hour,  couldn't  it  be  half  an  hour?  And 
if  it  could  not  be  half  an  hour,  couldn't  it  be  half  a  dozen 
minutes?  Tell  me,  is  there  any  Christian  here  who,  for 
any  cause,  should  allow  to-morrow  to  pass  without  speak- 
ing to  some  soul  about  being  right  with  God?  I  beseech 
you,  my  fellow-Christians,  do  your  hest  now  to  help  those 
who  need  you  in  the  realm  of  religion.  The  Lord  be  your 
constant  inspiration  and  help  in  this  heavenly  work  of 
shepherding  souls! 

87 


88  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD. 

Text:    "Prepare  to  meet  thy  God." — Amos  4:12. 

For  quite  awhile  now  there  has  been  a  word  thrust  into 
prominence,  through  the  press  and  from  the  platform,  all 
over  this  land  and  in  other  lands.  That  word  is  ''prepar- 
edness." Its  meaning  is  at  once  evident.  In  recent  times 
its  meaning  has  been  associated  with  the  realm  military, 
and  in  such  realm  its  meaning  is  entirely  plain.  The  word 
is  an  equally  suggestive  one  in  the  realm  of  education.  Oh, 
what  a  summons  there  is  to-day  to  the  young  people  all 
over  the  land  to  get  ready  for  life's  work  —  to  be  worthily 
prepared.  And  this  word  "preparedness"  is  an  equally 
worthy  word  in  the  important  realm  of  business.  And  cer- 
tainly, in  the  highest  realm  of  all,  the  realm  of  religion, 
this  w^ord  "preparedness"  has  an  immeasurably  important 
meaning.  Our  text  points  the  lesson  for  us  in  five  little 
words,  quite  familiar,  but  to  the  last  degree  suggestive: 
"Prepare  to  meet  thy  God." 

I  shall  not  now  stop  to  discuss  these  five  words  in  their 
setting,  but  shall  begin  my  message  by  asking  you,  one 
by  one,  this  all-important  question:  Are  you  prepared  for 
your  meeting  with  God?  Meet  Him  you  must.  Your  re- 
lations to  Him  are  inescapable:  "We  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ."  It  is  more  serious 
than  that:  "So  then  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of 
himself  to  God."  Are  you  prepared  for  your  inevitable 
meeting  with  God? 

These  five  little  words  suggest  for  us  three  infinitely 
important  questions.  Let  us  together  ask  them  and  an- 
swer them  as  faithfully  as  we  may  this  Thursday  evening. 
"Prepare  to  meet  thy  God" — why?  "Prepare  to  meet  thy 
God"-— how?  "Prepare  to  meet  thy  God"— when?  I  have 
asked  these  questions  as  simply  as  it  is  possible  for  me  to 
ask  them,  so  that  these  boys  and  girls  about  me,  of  young 
and  tender  years,  may  know  the  points  that  I  am  seeking 
to  enforce,  for  it  behooves  Christ's  preacher  ever  so  to 
preach,  not  simply  that  the  people  may  understand  him, 
but  so  that  they  must — ^^so  that  as  they  go  their  ways  and 
speak  one  to  another  about  what  they  have  heard,  or  pon- 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD  89 

der  it  in  their  hearts,  their  hearts  shall  say:  "One  thing 
is  certain,  and  that  is,  we  know  what  the  man  was  driving 
at."  God  help  us  to-night  to  speak  and  to  hear  like  we 
ought.  Above  all  else,  we  now  would  pray  for  the  leading 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  throughout  this  responsible  hour! 

Let  us  consider  the  first  question  suggested  by  the  text : 
"Prepare  to  meet  thy  God'' — why?  It  would  be  enough  to 
say  that  God  commands  it.  Running  like  an  unbroken 
thread  all  through  His  Book  is  His  command  to  the  chil- 
dren of  men  to  make  preparation  for  their  meeting  with 
Him.  We  could  rest  our  case  right  there.  God  commands 
it.  When  we  know  the  mind  of  God  about  anything,  it 
is  the  part  of  the  highest  wisdom  for  us  to  relate  ourselves 
obediently  to  that  command.  This  is  God's  command.  And 
shall  the  poor  little  creature  turn  in  defiance  away  from 
the  great  and  holy  Creator?  Shall  the  human,  whose  life 
is  utterly  contingent  upon  the  divine  will,  turn  away  from 
such  will  and  seek  to  ignore  Him?  This  is  God's  com- 
mand :  "Oh,  ye  children  of  men,  prepare  ye  to  meet  me !" 
And  when  we  have  His  command  about  anything,  then  it 
is  the  part  of  the  highest  wisdom  for  us  to  follow  that  com- 
mand without  reserve  and  with  all  devotion. 

But  the  reason  for  such  preparation  is  revealed  to  us 
still  further  by  the  revelation  God  makes  in  His  Book  to 
us.  Our  condition  demands  that  we  shall  make  such  prep- 
aration. And  what  of  our  conditon?  There  has  come  to 
us  in  our  very  natures  a  moral  sickness,  the  name  of  which 
is  sin,  which  has  turned  us  all  away  from  God.  Sin  is  a 
moral  sickness  in  human  life,  as  real  as  the  hand  or  the 
eye  is  a  part  of  our  physical  life,  and  because  of  that  moral 
sickness,  calling  for  a  helper,  and  because  a  helper  has  been 
vouchsafed,  we  are  to  turn  to  that  helper  and  seek  to  have 
healing  and  recovery  from  our  moral  sickness.  One  little 
word  describes  it  all,  and  that  word  trembled  on  the  lips  of 
Jesus  when  He  was  here:  "The  Son  of  man  is  come  to 
seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  Oh,  what  a  world 
of  meaning,  of  horrible  meaning,  is  condensed  into  that  one 
little  w^ord,  "lost!"  And  outside  of  Christ,  that  is  the  con- 
dition of  mankind.  If  that  could  only  be  realized,  how 
different  would  be  our  attitude  towards  sin  and  towards 


90  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

God,  v^o  would  deliver  us  from  sin's  enthralling  power. 
Oh,  if  that  could  be  realized!  One  prayer,  my  fellow 
Christians,  I  adjure  you  to  pray,  as  we  gather  here  from 
evening  to  evening,  and  yonder  at  noonday  in  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  auditorium — one  prayer:  "Lord,  open  the 
eyes  of  men  and  women,  that  they  may  see,  touch  their 
hearts,  that  they  may  feel,  their  absolute  need  of  God !" 

When  I  was  a  child — with  awful  vividness  do  I  remember 
it — there  went  throughout  the  land  a  shuddering  story  that 
a  little  boy  had  been  kidnaped  away  from  his  parents,  had 
been  stolen  away  from  his  home,  had  been  lost  to  his  loved 
ones.  Not  to  my  dying  day  can  I  forget  the  thrill  of  hor- 
ror that  day  by  day  went  through  my  childish  heart  as  I 
heard  them  discuss  it  in  our  home,  and  heard  the  neighbors 
discuss  it  when  they  would  gather,  that  a  little  boy  had 
been  lost  to  his  parents.  Somebody  had  stolen  him  away, 
and  parents  were  resorting  to  every  possible  means  to  find 
out  about  that  little  fellow,  that  he  might  be  recovered  and 
restored  to  his  loved  ones.  When  the  older  people  in  the 
country  home  where  I  lived  would  come  in  from  the  farms, 
they  would  look  for  the  latest  paper,  if  haply  they  might 
find  some  word  about  that  lost  little  boy — Charlie  Ross. 
And  mothers  drew  their  little  fellows  nearer  to  them  and 
watched  them  more  closely,  as  they  pondered  the  direful 
meaning  of  the  losing  from  the  home  of  a  precious  child. 

Oh,  if  that  truth  could  only  be  passed  on  and  up,  like 
it  ought  to  be,  to  the  realm  of  religion,  and  we  could  lay 
to  heart  like  we  ought  what  it  means  for  the  soul,  for  the 
self,  for  the  personality,  for  the  life,  to  be  lost  in  the  sight 
of  God !  When  we  turn  to  the  Scriptures,  they  are  as  clear 
as  the  light  on  this  momentous  point.  I  quote  them  now: 
"God  looked  down  from  heaven  upon  the  children  of  men, 
to  see  if  there  were  any  that  did  understand,  that  did  seek 
God.  Every  one  of  them  is  gone  back ;  they  are  altogether 
become  filthy;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one.'* 
I  quote  again :  "There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  earth,  that 
doeth  good,  and  sinneth  not."  I  quote  again:  "All  we 
like  sheep  have  gone  astray ;  we  have  turned  every  one  to 
his  own  way."  I  am  quoting  again:  "Marvel  not  that  I 
said  unto  thee" — moral  man  though  Nicodemus  may  have 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD  91 

been,  splendid  in  his  position,  cultured  in  his  life — "marvel 
not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  ye  must  be  born  again — except 
a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
I  am  quoting  again:  "Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  like- 
wise perish."  I  am  quoting  again:  "There  is  no  differ- 
ence, for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God."  I  am  quoting  again:  "He  that  believeth  the  Son 
hath  everlasting  life ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son" — 
he  may  have  joined  the  church,  he  may  have  been  baptized, 
he  may  sit  with  others  at  the  Lord's  table,  to  partake  of  the 
emblems  of  Jesus'  broken  body  and  poured  out  blood — never 
mind,  nevertheless,  "he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not 
see  life ;   but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him." 

Salvation  is  by  a  person.  It  is  not  by  a  church.  It  is 
not  Sy  an  ordinance,  nor  by  a  sacrament,  nor  by  a  creed, 
nor  by  a  ceremony,  nor  by  a  form,  however  beautiful ;  nor 
by  a  man,  however  clever  and  pretentious.  Salvation  is 
by  a  person,  and  that  person  is  none  other  than  the  Divine 
Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ.  Whoever  receives  Him  to 
be  His  Savior  is  saved  by  Him.  Whoever  turns  away  from 
Him  does  not  have  spiritual  life,  but  spiritual  death. 

Note  further  what  is  lost.  What  does  it  mean  to  be 
lost?  When  Jesus  was  here  in  the  flesh.  He  asked  the 
question,  one  of  the  most  pungent  that  ever  fell  from  His 
lips,  indeed,  if  not  the  most  pungent,  and  this  was  His 
question:  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  Whom  was  He  talk- 
ing about?  He  was  talking  about  you,  "What  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world" — not  simply 
this  prosperous  Tarrant  county,  not  simply  this  progressive, 
fast-growing  city  of  Fort  Worth,  not  simply  this  imperial 
and  powerful  commomvealth,  so  dear  to  all  our  hearts ;  not 
simply  this  nation,  first  of  all  in  the  galaxy  of  nations ;  not 
simply  this  wide-spreading  continent,  with  its  measureless 
resources — "what  shall  it  profit  a  man" — any  man — "if  he 
shall  gain  the  Whole  World  and  lose  his  own  soul,  or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?" 

What  did  Jesus  mean  when  He  talked  about  losing  the 
soul?  Well,  I  will  tell  you,  first  of  all,  one  thing  He  did 
not  mean.     He  did  not  mean,  as  is  sometimes  falsely  al- 


92  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

legecl,  that  the  soul  of  the  wicked  at  death  would  go  down 
into  darkness  and  annihilation,  to  be  heard  of  no  more.  He 
did  not  mean  that.  Jesus  as  thoroughly  taught  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  of  the  wicked  as  He  taught  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  of  the  believer  in  Christ.  Immortality  is 
never  conditioned  on  character — never.  If  you  shall  die 
in  your  sins,  going  down  into  the  grave  and  to  eternity, 
without  Christ,  you  shall  consciously  exist  in  the  realm 
of  waste  and  loss  in  another  world  forever,  as  really  as 
the  soul  that  trusts  Christ  and  stakes  all  on  Him  shall  go 
to  live  at  His  right  hand,  and  be  like  Him  and  with  Him 
forevermore.  That  man  who  teaches  the  doctrine  of  the 
annihilation  of  the  wicked  is  an  enemy  both  to  God  and 
to  men.  Jesus  as  distinctly  teaches  the  conscious  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  of  the  wicked  in  another  world  after  this, 
as  He  teaches  the  conscious  and  blissful  immortality  of 
the  righteous  in  the  heavenl}^  land,  which  He  has  gone  to 
prepare  for  His  friends.  Oh,  if  death  ends  all,  it  is  not 
such  a  serious  thing  to  die!  If  death  ends  all,  then  this 
little  life  of  ours  is  an  awful  bundle  of  contradictions. 
Would  you  say  that  the  game  is  worth  the  candle,  if  we 
must  suffer  and  be  pained  and  have  the  soul  swept  with 
ten  thousand  vexations  and  disappointments  and  horrors, 
and  then  drop  into  the  grave  at  the  end  of  fifty  or  sixty  or 
seventy  years,  or  more  or  less,  to  be  heard  of  no  more  for- 
ever? If  that  be  all,  is  life's  game  worth  the  candle?  Oh, 
my  fellow-men,  that  is  not  all ! 

There  Is  a  death  whose  pangr 

Outlasts   this   fleeting  breath. 
Oh,   what   eternal  horrors  hang 

Around  one's  second  death! 

One  of  the  old  Confederate  soldiers  told  me  of  a  young 
lad  who  went  out  from  his  community  to  the  war  of  the 
'60's.  The  lad  was  barely  grown.  He  would  go  to  the 
war,  and  the  mother  pressed  into  his  hands  a  copy  of  the 
New  Testament,  as  on  his  forehead  she  pressed  her  lips, 
and  tears  and  prayers  were  mingled  as  she  bade  him  good- 
bye, urging  him  as  he  went  to  war,  to  read  that  little  book 
every  day,  and  follow  its  precepts,  and  whether  he  should 
come  back  or  fall  on  the  field  of  battle,  ii  he  would  follow 
the  light  of  that  little  book,  all  would  be  well.     And  the  old 


PREPARATION  FOR  MSSTING  GOD  93 

soldier  told  how  the  lad  went  into  the  war,  and  went  into 
battle  after  battle,  never  reading  the  little  book  at  all. 
They  were  getting  ready  to  go  into  one  of  the  most  awful 
battles  of  that  fearful  struggle,  and  the  commanding  of- 
ficer was  advising  his  men  how  to  behave,  and  was  saying : 
"You  will  play  the  men  now.  Many  of  you  will  not  come 
back,  but  you  will  stand  with  your  faces  to  duty/'  And 
this  young  fellow  was  seen  with  face  pale  like  death,  while 
some  of  the  older  men  twitted  him  about  his  being  afraid. 
They  said :  "They  will  about  get  you,  this  time,  lad,  and 
you  are  afraid  to  die,  are  you?  You  are  chicken-hearted, 
are  you?  You  are  afraid  now,  are  you?"  And  drawing 
the  little  Testament  from  his  pocket  where  he  had  carried 
it,  from  the  inner  pocket,  he  said:  "When  I  went  away 
from  home,  mother  urged  me  to  read  this,  and  I  meant  to 
do  iti  and  promised  her  I  would,  but  I  have  never  opened 
it.  She  said  if  I  would  follow  its  light  and  counsel  all 
would  be  well,  but  I  do  not  know  what  its  light  and  coun- 
sel are,  for  I  have  not  read  it.  Now  I  am  going  into  this 
battle  with  the  awful  apprehension  that  I  may  not  come 
back  again.  No,  men,  I  am  not  specially  afraid  to  die," 
but  then  he  added,  with  an  awful  ejaculation,  "My  God,  I 
am  afraid  of  what  is  coming  after  death,  for  I  have  made 
no  preparation  for  it!"  Well  might  he  fear.  Well  might 
he  start  back.  There  can  be  no  sanity  at  all,  there  can 
be  no  reasonableness  at  all,  in  our  coming  to  the  end  of 
the  earthly  life,  and  taking  a  leap  into  the  dark  all  neg- 
lectful and  unready  and  unprepared. 

What  did  Jesus  mean  when  He  talked  about  the  soul 
being  lost?  He  meant  the  soul's  separation  from  God — 
just  that.  "Every  man  shall  go  to  his  own  place"  when 
he  leaves  this  world.  The  law  of  moral  gravity  is  just  as 
inexorable  as  the  law  of  physical  gravity.  Every  law  of 
science  and  philosophy  would  utterly  be  disannulled  if  a 
man  should  not  reap  as  he  sowed.  And  if  a  man  turns 
indifferently  and  neglectfully  away  from  the  claims  and 
calls  of  God  and  goes  the  downward  way,  his  portion  must 
be  of  the  kind  of  his  own  sowing.  Jesus  taught  it.  You 
are  not  willing  to  defy  Him,  are  you?  I  am  not.  Where 
will  you  spend  eternity?     You  will  spend  it  just  as  is  your 


U  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

relation  to  Christ  Jesus  while  you  are  here  in  the  flesh, 
on  earth,  in  time.  Surely,  preparation  for  meeting  God  is 
a  matter  of  transcendent  concern.  Teach  us,  oh,  teach  us, 
thou  Friend  Divine,  the  infinite  importance  of  such  prepa- 
ration to-day! 

But  I  pass  to  the  second  question  suggested  by  the  text; 
''Prepare  to  meet  thy  God"  —  how?  In  answer  to  that 
question,  I  may  say  that  I  know  the  day  when  you  will 
be  saved,  if,  indeed,  you  ever  are  to  be  saved.  I  know  the 
day,  because  God  reveals  it  here  in  His  Holy  Word.  Listen 
to  Him :  *Tn  the  day  that  thou  seekest  me  with  thy  whole 
heart,  I  will  be  found  of  thee."  Listen  to  Him  again :  "Ye 
shall  seek  me,  and  find  me,  when  ye  shall  search  for  me 
with  all  your  heart."  Oh,  if  this  Thursday  night  the  man, 
the  woman,  the  child,  is  here  who  is  wrong  with  God,  who 
rises  up  with  high  hopes,  saying:  "This  very  Thursday 
night  with  my  whole  heart  I  will  seek  God,"  then  this 
Thursday  night  you  shall  meet  Him  and  be  saved. 

There  were  two  plain  truths  sounded  out  by  Jesus  and 
His  apostles,  the  record  of  which  is  kept  here  for  us  in  His 
Holy  Word,  and  those  two  truths  are  set  forth  in  the  two 
pithy  sayings:  "Repentance  toward  God,"  and  "Faith  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Here  we  are,  with  our  moral  sick- 
ness, with  our  lapse  and  defeat  and  loss  and  moral  failure. 
Here  we  are,  hostile  and  disobedient  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Here  we  are,  having  violated  God's  law  and  transgressed 
His  precepts.  And  He  calls  to  us,  saying:  "Will  you  not 
repent  of  that  evil  way?  Will  you  not  turn  from  it?  Will 
you  not  forsake  it?  Will  you  not  renounce  that  evil  way 
and  leave  it  utterly  behind?  Not  only  will  you  be  sor- 
rowful for  such  evil  course,  but  will  you  not  translate  that 
sorrow  into  action,  and  forsake  the  evil  way  and  leave  it 
behind?"  That  is,  by  repentance,  to  turn  to  God.  And 
then,  will  you  not  by  faith  lean  wholly  and  only  upon 
Christ,  the  atoning  Savior  for  those  who  have  sinned  in  the 
sight  of  God?  Will  you  not  commit  yourself  to  that  di- 
vinely given  Friend,  who  came,  himself  the  just,  to  make 
atonement  for  us,  the  unjust,  that  by  His  own  atoning 
sacrifice  He  might  make  us  right  with  God?  Will  you  not 
thus  definitely  by  faith  take  Christ  as  your  Savior?  Who- 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD  Q5 

ever  comes,  turning  definitely  away  from  the  wrong  course 
— and  he  may  make  such  turning  in  one  moment — and 
turning  with  absolute  surrender  to  Jesus,  the  Divine  Savior 
— whoever  comes  like  that  to  Christ,  shall  in  that  selfsame 
hour  be  forgiven  and  saved.  Oh,  that  it  might  be  to-night, 
for  every  soul  here  present  who  is  wrong  with  God !  You 
set  your  heart  to  seek  other  things,  and  properly  so.  You 
set  your  heart  to  seek  success  in  business,  and  properly  so. 
You  set  your  heart  to  mount  the  rung  of  the  ladder  of 
achievement,  and  properly  so.  You  set  your  heart  to  reach 
a  certain  goal  out  there,  noble  and  worthy,  and  properly 
so.  Oh,  I  summon  you,  set  your  heart,  by  high  resolve, 
that  the  greatest  matter  of  all  shall  not  be  ignored  and 
passed  by  and  forfeited  by  you!  Set  your  heart  to  seek 
God  before  it  is  too  late. 

But  we  have  another  question  suggested  by  this  simple 
text:  "Prepare  to  meet  thy  God" — when?  I  have  asked 
you  two  questions :  Why  prepare  to  meet  thy  God  ?  And 
then,  next:  How  prepare  to  meet  Him?  And  now  I  am 
coming  with  this  third  question:  "Prepare  to  meet  thy 
God" — when?  Oh,  solemn  truth,  there  are  limits  that  you 
must  not  pass,  for  if  you  pass  them  you  do  it  to  your  own 
deadly  and  eternal  undoing.  "Prepare  to  meet  thy  God" — 
when?  There  are  limits  beyond  which  if  you  go,  the 
battle  for  the  soul  is  lost  forever.  The  Bible  is  clear  at 
that  point.  The  Bible  is  all  along  reminding  us  of  the 
eternal  value  of  this  probationary  period  called  time,  in 
the  which  period  the  highest  things  of  the  soul  are  to  be 
seen  to  and  to  be  determined  upon  forevermore.  Oh,  the 
tragedy  of  being  lost  just  by  waiting  too  long  to  make 
proper  preparation  for  meeting  God ! 

Were  you  ever  yonder  above  Niagara?  If  you  have 
been,  some  hundreds  of  yards  above  that  roaring,  plung- 
ing Niagara,  you  have  seen  a  strange  sign,  flung  out  on 
either  side  of  the  river,  as  the  river  rushes  to  take  that 
last  awful  plunge.  You  recall  it  as  I  speak  of  it.  A  plank 
with  three  ominous  words  is  flung  out  on  either  side  of 
the  river,  and  you  are  arrested  as  your  eye  sees  those 
words  — just  three:  "PAST  REDEMPTION  POINT." 
The  meaning  of  the  words  is  ominous  and  evident.     Oh, 


96  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

boatman,  plying  your  little  boat  on  the  surface  of  that 
river,  do  not  get  below  that  sign!  Oh,  canoeman,  floating 
idly  and  leisurely  on  the  bosom  of  that  river,  do  not  get 
below  that  sign!  For  a  little  below  the  sign  the  river-bed 
falls,  and  the  river  rushes  with  the  speed  almost  of  the 
arrow  let  fly  from  the  bow  to  take  its  fearful  plunge  over 
the  awful  precipice.  Do  not  get  below  that  sign.  Some- 
where in  the  journeying  of  a  human  soul  there  is  that 
awful  sign  flung  out:  "Past  Redemption  Point."  Soul, 
do  not  get  below  that  sign!  Do  not  get  into  that  current 
below  that  sign! 

When  ought  you  to  prepare  to  meet  God?  What  does 
your  best  judgment  say  about  it?  When  ought  you  to 
make  this  preparation  for  meeting  with  God?  What  does 
He,  who  was  and  is  the  incarnation  of  infinite  wisdom, 
say  to  us  in  response  to  that  question.  When  ought  this 
preparation  for  meeting  God  to  be  made?  He  has  just 
one  message  in  answer  to  that  question:  "Boast  not  thy- 
self of  to-morrow,  for  thou  knowest  not  what  a  day  may 
bring  forth."  Since  I  came  to  this  platform  this  evening, 
one  passed  up  to  me  a  tragic  note  saying:  "Have  a  prayer 
for  stricken  parents,  whose  son  was  torn  into  shreds  by 
a  passing  train,  on  the  outskirts  of  this  city,  a  few  minutes 
ago."  We  breathe  our  most  earnest  prayer  up  into  the 
ears  of  our  gracious  Lord,  that  He  will  comfort  and  heal 
the  parental  hearts  torn  by  such  a  sorrow.  The  tragedy 
itself  points  simply  the  truth  that  I  am  now  emphasizing — 
that  in  the  unexpected  hour,  the  blow  falls;  in  the  unex- 
pected hour,  the  end  comes.  Therefore,  God  tells  us: 
"Boast  not  thyself  of  to-morrow,  for  thou  knowest  not 
what  a  day  may  bring  forth." 

When  ought  this  preparation  to  be  made?  I  come  to 
affirm,  on  the  authority  of  God's  teaching,  confirmed  by 
all  human  experience,  that  to-day  and  now,  every  man  and 
woman  and  boy  and  girl  under  the  sound  of  my  voice,  who 
is  wrong  with  God  ought  to  see  about  preparation  for 
meeting  God  to-day  and  now.  And  why  so?  Let  me 
give  you  two  or  three  reasons.  Judge  ye  yourselves  wheth- 
er these  reasons  are  worthy  the  consideration  of  your  best 
judgment. 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD  97 

You  should  make  your  preparations  for  meeting  God 
to-day  and  now  because  you  need  that  your  life  here  and 
now  should  be  saved.  Did  you  think  that  I  would  say,  in 
order  that  you  might  be  prepared  to  die?  I  will  say  that, 
but  not  yet,  for  that  does  not  come  yet.  That  does  not 
come  first.  Oh,  men  and  women,  there  is  not  a  human 
being  before  me  or  anywhere  else  competent  to  live  life 
like  it  ought  to  be  lived  for  one  short  second,  if  such  being 
is  in  hostile  array  against  God.  You  are  not  ready  for 
any  duty  or  any  day  or  any  experience,  to  meet  it  like  you 
ought,  if  you  are  in  wrong  relations  to  God,  if  you  are  not 
positionized  openly  and  honestly  as  the  friend  of  God.  So 
I  am  coming  to  say  that  you  should  prepare  to  meet  God 
now,  in  order  that  your  life,  your  busy,  responsible  life, 
here  and  now  may  be  saved — your  life  saved.  If  I  knew 
that  twenty-five  years  from  this  Thursday  night,  I  would 
come  back  to  this  growing  city,  and  be  right  on  this  same 
spot,  and  under  a  tent  like  unto  this,  and  this  vast  con- 
course of  people  would  be  back,  and  nobody  would  be 
missing,  and  we  would  all  have  our  wits  about  us  and  be 
in  our  right  minds  on  that  far-off  night,  twenty-five  years 
from  to-night;  if  I  knew  that  on  that  night,  far-off,  when 
I  made  the  call  for  you  to  decide  for  Jesus  and  surrender 
to  Him,  everyone  of  you  would  come  then  and  surrender 
to  Christ  and  be  saved,  yet  would  I  pour  out  my  heart 
to  you  this  Thursday  night,  and  say,  come  now,  that  these 
twenty-five  years  may  not  be  lost !  Come  now,  that  these 
twenty-five  years  may  not  be  given  to  Satan.  Come  now, 
that  your  influence  may  not  be  positionized  against  heaven 
and  Christ  and  all  that  is  dearest  and  highest  and  best. 
Come  now,  that  your  life  may  be  saved  to  the  right  side. 
Come  now,  that  your  influence  may  be  positionized  where 
it  ought  to  be.  You  can  no  more  be  separated  from  your 
influence  over  others  than  you  can  separate  yourself  from 
your  shadow  as  you  walk  in  the  glowing  sun.  Come  now, 
that  your  influence  may  be  saved !  Oh,  what  do  some  men 
and  women  mean,  whose  influence  is  all  against  heaven 
and  God  and  the  highest  life?  What  do  they  mean? 
Years  agone,  a  man  was  converted  under  my  ministry  in 
my  city,  after  he  had  reached  the  age  of  some  sixty-eight 


98  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

years,  and  then  for  the  year  or  two  afterward  that  he  was 
spared,  his  devotion  to  Jesus  was  something  to  the  last 
degree  inspiring.  Some  months  after  his  conversion,  I 
noticed  him  at  a  morning  service,  profoundly  agitated,  and 
when  I  dismissed  the  people  he  tarried  at  his  pew,  and 
continued  to  sob  like  a  heart-broken  child,  and  I  went 
around  quietly  to  him,  when  the  people  had  gone,  and 
asked  him  to  explain  his  strange  and  seemingly  uncon- 
trollable emotion,  and  he  said:  "Why,  man,  it  was  your 
sermon,  your  sermon !"  And  then  I  remembered  my  text : 
"No  man  liveth  to  himself."  No  man  can  live  to  him- 
self. We  are  taking  people  up  or  down  with  us  every 
day.  We  are  making  it  easier  or  harder  for  people  to 
get  to  heaven  every  day  we  live.  "It  was  your  sermon, 
sir,"  he  said,  and  then  he  said:  "I  am  the  sad  proof  of 
the  tragedy  of  a  wasted  influence.  I  came  at  sixty-eight 
to  Christ,  and  as  I  came  to  this  church  house  this  morn- 
ing, I  came  by  the  home  of  my  three  sons,  and  I  begged 
each  one  of  these  sons  to  come  to  church  with  me,  and 
they  all  shrugged  their  shoulders  and  faintly  essayed  to 
smile,  and  said:  'We  guess,  father,  that  we  will  start  to 
going  to  church  when  we  get  to  be  about  sixty-eight.' 
Then  I  tried  their  sons,  some  of  them  coming  into  young 
manhood,  my  dear  grandchildren,  and  they  looked  at  one 
another  with  a  wink,  and  said:  'Grandpa,  we  guess  we 
will  start  to  going  to  church  when  we  are  about  sixty- 
eight  or  seventy.'"  The  old  man  said:  "I  came  on  with- 
out child  or  grandchild.  I  am  myself,  sir,  the  awful  proof 
of  the  tragedy  of  a  wasted  influence."  Then  he  rose  up 
and  looked  at  me  with  a  pathos  I  can  never  forget,  and 
stretched  out  his  strong  arm  and  said:  "I  would  have 
that  arm  severed  from  my  shoulder  if  I  could  turn  time 
backward  and  live  my  life  over  again — if  I  could  undo  my 
wasted  influence."  And  then,  with  a  sob  never  to  be  for- 
gotten, he  said :  "Sir,  I  would  be  willing  to  have  my  head 
severed  from  my  body,  if  I  could  go  back  and  teach  my 
little  boys  by  example  how  a  Christian  father  ought  to 
live."    Oh,  the  tragedy  of  wasted  influence! 

A  little  boy  slept  with  his  father  after  the  mother  had 
died,  and  one  night  the  little  fellow  awakened  his  father 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD  99 

by  his  pitiful  sobbing — this  little  six-year-old  son — and  the 
father  said :    "Why,  my  boy,  why  do  you  sob  ?"     And  the 
little  fellow  did  not  wish  to  tell  him,  but  the  father  urged 
him  to  tell  him,  and  presently  the  little  fellow  said:     'Tt 
was  a  bad  dream,  papa."     And  then  the  father  said:   *'Tell 
me  what  it  was/'    And  the  little  boy  said :    "I  would  rather 
not,  papa.     It  is  about  you."     The  father,  of  course,  was 
curious  now,  and  said :     'Tell  me,  my  boy,  what  it  was." 
The  little  fellow  said:     "It  is  about  what  you  have  done 
to  me.     I  do  not  think  I  can  tell  you."     Then  the  father 
coaxed  him  and  mothered  him,  and  said :    "Tell  papa  about 
it."     And  the  little  fellow  said:     "Papa,  I  dreamed  that 
you,  my  own  papa,  had  your  hand  to  my  throat,  and  were 
choking  me  to  death."     God  pity  us,  that  is  not  a  dream ! 
I  know  parents  who  are  doing  that  with  the  souls  of  their 
children.     Sometimes  it  is  a  strong  father,  and  he  would 
lay  down  his  life  for  the  welfare  of  his  child,  and  yet  he  has 
the  grip  of  his  parent's  influence  around  the  throat  of  that 
child's   soul,  and  the   child  is  missing  the  upward  way. 
Sometimes  it  is  a  mother.     Oh,  God,  and  can  it  be?    The 
highest  dignity  allowed  to  a  human  being  is  the  dignity 
of  motherhood,  and  can  it  be  that  a  mother,  on  whose  heart 
God  lays  a  precious  child  for  the  mother  to  love  and  to 
guide— can  it  be  that  the  mother  goes  her  way,  forgetful 
of  the  highest,  and  in  those  plastic   days  influences  her 
children  so  that  they  go  the  downward  road  rather  than 
the  upward?     I  am  pleading  to  you  to-night  for  your  life. 
You  will  not  face  life  like  you  ought  to  face  it;   you  will 
spoil  it,  you  will  mar  it,  you  will  debauch  it,  you  will 
prostitute  it,  you  will  defile  it,  if  you  dare  to  go  your  way 
without  God. 

Now  I  am  going  to  say  that  second  word.  You  should 
make  your  preparation  for  meeting  God  now  in  order  that 
you  may  be  ready  for  life's  end,  when  such  end  shall  come. 
And  when  shall  that  end  come?  No  angel  above  us  knows 
when  that  end  shall  come.  It  may  come  before  midnight 
to-night.  It  may  come  before  the  Lord's  day  shall  dawn. 
It  may  come  with  the  gladsome  ringing  of  the  Christmas 
bells  at  the  next  holiday  time.  When  shall  I  take  that 
journey  down  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow?     Only  God 


100  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

knows.  Not  all  of  us  will  be  here  when  the  chimes  of  the 
Christmastide  shall  sound  so  sweetly  in  expectant  ears.  I 
am  coming  to  say,  my  fellow-men,  that  there  is  no  wisdom 
in  our  going  our  way  to  that  inevitable  end,  and  then  taking 
a  leap  into  the  dark  without  preparedness,  without  readi- 
ness. There  is  no  wisdom  in  that.  Be  ready  for  the  time 
of  your  departure  from  earth.    Be  ready. 

Give  heed,  I  pray  you,  to  this  other  word :  Every  day 
you  delay  making  your  return  to  God,  by  that  much  do 
you  add  to  your  difficulty  about  ever  coming.  Therefore, 
should  our  interest  be  keyed  to  the  highest  for  the  young 
people.  Oh,  how  I  covet  these  boys  and  girls  in  their  teens, 
and  just  beginning  their  teens !  How  I  covet  every  one 
of  them  for  God!  Wisdom  has  fled  from  God's  people  if 
they  do  not  put  forth  their  best  efforts  to  save  the  people 
while  they  are  young.  It  is  God's  time.  Listen  to  Him: 
^'Remember  now  thy  Creator,  in  the  days  of  thy  youth, 
while  the  evil  days  come  not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh, 
when  thou  shalt  say,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them.''  The 
voice  of  God's  Book,  confirmed  by  all  experience,  is  that 
in  the  morning  of  life,  this  biggest  question  of  all — right 
adjustment  to  God — should  have  proper  settlement — in  the 
morning  of  life.  Remember  it,  my  fellow-men ;  remember 
it,  my  3^oung  people — every  day  that  you  delay  your  coming 
to  God  do  you  add  to  your  difficulties  about  ever  coming 
at  all.  Every  day  that  you  delay,  you  increase  and  strength- 
en your  diffixculties.  If  a  man  will  not  do  a  thing  for  awhile, 
then  by  a  law  psychological,  and  physiological  as  well,  after 
awhile  he  cannot  do  it.  If  through  some  freakish  fancy  I 
should  have  this  arm  tied  to  my  body  for  a  dozen  years, 
refusing  to  use  it,  and  at  the  end  of  those  years  I  should 
say:  "Cut  the  cord  and  watch  me  lift  the  ax  and  bring 
down  the  trees  in  the  forest,  as  I  used  to  do  when  a  boy," 
it  would  be  found  that  I  could  not  lift  the  ax  at  all.  I  would 
be  helpless  and  impotent  to  lift  that  ax  at  all.  I  would 
not  lift  it — I  refused  to  use  it,  now  I  cannot.  If  through 
some  fancy  I  should  have  my  eyes  bandaged  and  keep  them 
in  the  dark  for  a  dozen  years,  and  then  say  to  my  friends : 
"Remove  the  bandages  now,  and  watch  me  read  as  once 
I  read  from  the  book  or  the  paper,"  you  might  give  me 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD         101 

the  book  or  the  paper,  but  I  could  not  read  at  all.  So  long 
was  I  determinedly  and  positively  in  the  darkness  that 
light  fled  away.  Every  day  that  a  human  soul  trifles  with 
God's  light  and  turns  the  back  on  God,  does  such  soul  add 
to  its  danger  and  difficulty  and  make  its  probability  of  sal- 
vation less  and  less  and  less. 

In  my  city,  years  ago,  as  I  rode  to  a  funeral  with  one 
of  our  well-known  citizens,  not  a  Christian,  a  man  for 
whose  salvation  I  had  yearned,  God  knows,  with  a  yearning 
inexpressible,  he  said  to  me,  as  we  came  back  from  the 
funeral,  for  he  was  quite  reminiscent — we  had  buried  his 
dear  friend — he  said:  "A  strange  thing  has  happened  to 
me,  and  I  do  not  know  hov/  to  explain  it."  Then  he  added : 
"When  you  came  to  Dallas  years  ago,  I  heard  you  often 
on  Sunday  morning,  and  many  a  time  I  went  away  so 
stirred  that  I  did  not  enjoy  a  mouthful  of  my  midday  meal 
Sunday.  But  I  went  my  way,  saying:  'This  matter  of 
religion  will  get  my  attention  by  and  by,  but  I  am  pre- 
occupied; I  am  too  busy  now.'  And  I  have  heard  you 
on  and  on,  but  less  and  less,  as  the  years  passed.  I  heard 
your  words  awhile  ago,"  he  said,  "as  you  stood  by  the  bier 
of  my  dear  friend,  and  there  was  no  emotion  at  all,  that 
I  could  find  in  my  heart.  I  have  reached  a  strange  place, 
and  that  place  is  that  I  have  no  feeling  at  all,  none  at  all. 
I  do  not  know  what  has  happened." 

I  did  not  tell  him  what  had  happened  to  him,  and  yet 
I  think  I  know.  The  Scriptures  are  clear  as  the  light  that 
a  human  soul  can  trifle  with  light,  and  can  resist  God,  and 
can  refuse,  and  can  protest,  and  can  defer,  and  can  wait, 
until  after  awhile  the  human  conscience  is  seared  as  with 
a  hot  iron,  and  no  more  is  there  feeling  for  such  duty- 
neglecting  and  light-forgetting  soul  —  no  more.  There 
comes  in  a  solemn  song  that  our  parents  used  to  sing,  when 
some  of  us  were  little  tots  about  their  knees.  Maybe  I  can 
quote  that  solemn  song.     Oh,  the  depth  of  its  meaning! 

There  is  a  time,  I  know  not  when, 

A  place,  I  know  not  where, 
Which  marks  the  destiny  of  men. 

To  glory  or  despair. 

There  is  a  line  by  us  unseen. 

Which  crosses  every  path. 
The  hidden  boiuidary  between  ; 

God's  patience  and  God's  wrath. 


102  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

To  cross  that  limit  is  to  die. 

To  die  as  if  by  stealth. 
It  may  not  pale  the  beaming  eye. 

Nor  quench  the  glowing  health. 

The  conscience  may  be  still  at  ease. 

The  spirits  light  and  gay. 
That  which  is  pleasing  still  may  please. 

And  care  be  thrust  away. 

But  on  that  forehead  God  hath  set 

Indelibly  a  mark 
By  man  unseen,  for  man  as  yet 

Is  blind  and  in  the  dark. 

And  still  that  doomed  man's  path  below 

May  bloom  like  Eden  bloomed. 
He  did  not,  does  not,  will  not,  know. 

Nor  feel  that  he  is  doomed. 

He  feels,  he  says,  that  all  is  well. 

His  every  fear  is  calmed. 
He  lives,  he  dies,  he  wakes  in  hell. 

Not  only  doomed,  but  damned. 

Oh,  where  is  that  mysterious  bourn, 

By  which  each  path  is  crossed. 
Beyond  which  God  himself  hath  sworn. 

That  he  who  goes  is  lost? 

How  long  may  men  go  on  in  sin? 

How  long  will  God  forbear? 
Where  does  hope  end,  and  where  begin. 

The  confines  of  despair? 

One  answer  from  those  skies  is  sent: 

"Ye  who  from  God  depart. 
While  it  is   called.   To-day,   repent. 

And  harden  not  your  heart." 

My  message  is  done.  I  have  a  question  to  ask  you 
before  I  go.  How  many  of  you  men  and  women  have  made 
preparation  for  meeting  God?  And  by  that  I  mean  simply 
this,  that  turning  away  from  yourself  you  have  turned  to 
Christ,  and  are  trusting  in  Him  only  and  utterly  as  your 
Savior.  How  many  of  this  large  throng  of  people  can 
personally  say :  ''Sir,  I  have  made  that  preparation.  I  have 
heard  Christ's  call.  I  have  yielded  myself  to  Him.  I  am 
trusting  alone  in  Him  as  my  Savior."  Every  man  and 
woman  and  child  in  this  press  of  people  that  can  say:  "I 
have  made  that  preparation,  sir,  already,"  lift  high  your 
hand  just  now.  [A  sea  of  hands  went  up.]  Oh,  isn't  it 
a  sight  to  move  our  hearts !  It  looked  to  me  as  if  almost 
every  hand  was  lifted.  Blessed  be  God !  And  yet  I  must 
ask  another  question.  Are  there  men  and  women  in  this 
gathering  to-night  who  could  not  in  conscience  lift  their 
hands,  thus  witnessing  that  they  are  on  Christ's  side?  Are 
there  men  and  women  listening  to  me  who  say:  "Oh,  sir, 
I  am  wrong  with  God  and  know  it.     I  could  not  lift  my 


PREPARATION  FOR  MEETING  GOD         103 

hand.  I  am  wrong  with  God  and  know  it/'  In-  the  church 
maybe,  or  out — a  professor  of  religion  once,  or  maybe  never 
such — but  your  heart  says  this:  "I  am  wrong  with  God 
and  know  it.  I  could  not  lift  my  hand  a  minute  ago,  but  I 
would  lift  it  on  this,  that  I  am  wrong  with  God  and  know 
it,  and  I  wish  to  be  right  with  God,  in  His  own  time  and 
way."  We  will  offer  our  most  fervent  prayer  for  you  in 
a  moment,  ere  we  go.  Do  you  say:  'T  lift  my  hand  on 
that.  I  am  wrong  with  God  and  know  it,  and  I  wish  to 
be  right  with  Him,  and  I  wish  you  and  all  these  who  pray 
to  ofifer  a  prayer  for  me  that  I  may  be  right  with  God,  in 
His  own  time  and  way.  I  would  lift  my  hand  on  that." 
As  I  look  this  audience  over  for  a  minute,  do  you  lift  your 
hand?  There  where  I  am  pointing,  I  see  you,  my  brother, 
and  you,  dear  lady.  As  I  am  pointing  there  to  the  left, 
does  the  hand  lift,  saying:  "That  includes  me?"  Where 
I  am  looking  yonder,  does  the  hand  lift,  saying:  *'That 
includes  me?"  I  see  you,  sir.  Oh,  sirs,  breathe  a  prayer 
to  God  to  bless  these  men  and  women.  I  see  you,  lady, 
and  still  another,  and  still  another  over  there.  Back  to 
the  rear,  does  the  hand  lift  there,  clear  to  my  right?  I  see 
you,  gentlemen,  numbers  of  your  hands. 

Oh,  that  to-night  you  would  end  your  delay!  Listen 
to  Jesus :  "Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out."  Listen  again :  "Boast  not  thyself  of  to-morrow,  for 
thou  knowest  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth."  And 
again:  "To-day,  if  ye  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your 
heart." 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

Take  the  sennce,  we  pray  thee,  our  Heavenly  Father,  into  thine  own  gracious 
keeping,  and  turn  it  even  as  thou  wilt.  Oh,  we  cry  unto  thee,  our  Father,  in  the 
dear  Savior's  name,  in  behalf  of  these  interested  men  and  women  and  children, 
who  this  night  have  said  to  us :  "We  are  consciously  wrong  with  God,  but  wish  to 
be  right."  How  we  covet  them  and  long  for  them,  that  without  delay  they  shall 
just  surrender,  simply  and  honestly,  to  Christ,  that  He  may  be  their*  Savior  and 
Master.  Teach  them  by  thy  Spirit  that  waiting  has  in  it  nothing  but  peril.  Teach 
them  that  by  every  worthy  motive  that  can  move  serious  people  to  a  great  step, 
now,  without  delay,  they  should  decide  for  Christ.  May  thy  Word  be  bound  upon 
their  hearts,  where  thou  sayest :  "Him  that  cometh  to  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out;"  and  where  thou  sayest:  "Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely;"  and  where  thou  sayest:  "Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord.  Trust  also  in 
Him,  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass."  Oh,  may  these  men  and  women  and  children, 
wrong  with  God,  but  wishing  to  be  right,  know,  because  God  shall  teach  them,  -that 
it  is  Christ's  business  to  save,  but  it  is  theirs  to  surrender  to  Him,  entirely  to  Him, 
that  He  may  save  in  His  own  way.  May  they  make  that  surrender  even  this  very 
night,  before  they  sleep.  And  if  in  this  throng  there  were  others,  who  did  not 
witness  to  their  interest  about  being  saved,  and  yet  who  are  interested,  we  pray 
that  their  interest  may  be  deepened,  until  speedily  they  shall  find  Christ.  And  if 
in  this  place  there  is  one  whose  heart  is  not  touched  with  any  sense  of  interest 


104  A'  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

touching  personal  religion,  oh,  may  the  Divine  Spirit  take  of  the  things  of  Christ 
and  convict  such  soul  of  the  supreme  and  urgent  need  of  Christ's  forgiving  grace. 
Take  the  whole  audience  now  into  thine  own  gracious  care,  and  lead  us  as  thou 
wilt.  How  we  bless  thee  that  such  a  vast  number  of  the  people  present  are  able 
to  make  the  great  confession  that  Christ  is  their  Savior  even  now.  May  each  one 
go  who  loves  Christ,  and  speak  the  word  to  whom  and  as  Christ  would  have  the 
word  spoken,  that  others  may  be  helped  by  us  in  the  hours  and  days  just  before  us, 
and  helped  in  the  highest  and  best  way.  Take  this  family,  stricken  with  sorrow 
this  very  evening,  and  bind  up  their  hearts  with  God's  own  healing  comfort  and 
grace. 

And  now,  as  you  go,  may  the  blessed  Holy  Spirit  brood  over  you  all,  and  may 
the  love  of  the  Father,  and  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  granted  you  all 
and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.    Amen, 


VIII 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  15,  1917. 

THE  OPENING  PRAYER. 

Holy  Father,  deep  is  our  gratitude  to  thee  for  thy  goodness  to  us  and  ours. 
How  wonderful  it  all  seems !  Yea,  how  wonderful  it  really  is !  We  bless  thee 
for  it.  And  now  as  we  come  apart  at  this  midday  hour  for  a  brief  service,  we 
pray  that  we  may  have  the  touch  of  thy  hand  upon  us,  all  and  each.  We  would 
wait  here  in  thy  presence  now  just  like  we  ought.  We  would  be  humble  before 
thee.  We  v.'ould  be  repentant  on  account  of  every  evil  way,  and  we  would  be 
cleansed  from  all  unrighteousness.  We  would  put  our  trust  unreservedly  in 
God.  We  would  turn  absolutely  from  every  wrong  course.  We  would  have 
thee  speak  to  us  what  thou  wouldst  have  us  to  hear.  We  would  know  thy 
will,  and  then  we  would  do  it,  by  thy  guidance  and  help,  whatever  it  costs, 
wherever  it  leads.  Let  there  be  in  the  service  something  that  shall  help  us 
every  one,  and  that  shall  make  for  the  glory  of  thy  name.  And  to-day,  and  in  the 
days  just  before  us,  may  we  make  it  our  concern,  as  never  before,  to  put  first 
things  first,  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  before  all  else. 
We  ask  this  in  the  Master's  name.     Amen. 

A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE. 

Text:    "Christ  the  power  of  God."— I  Cor.  1:24. 

A  religion  without  a  Divine  Savior  is  a  religion  incom- 
petent and  insufficient  for  a  needy,  sinning,  suffering,  dying 
humanity.  No  man  has  moral  sources  within  himself  suf- 
ficient to  live  the  life  that  he  ought  to  live.  Systems  of 
ethics  and  of  morals,  however  beautiful  and  worthy,  will 
not,  and  cannot,  transform  men  and  women  who  have 
the  sense  of  sin  in  their  lives — the  sense  of  moral  loss  and 
lapse  and  failure.  A  little  while  ago  it  was  my  privilege 
to  speak  some  ten  days  to  the  students  of  one  of  the  coun- 
try's largest  universities.  One  day  I  was  waited  upon  by 
a  group  of  Japanese  students,  who  desired  an  interview 
concerning  the  relative  claims  of  their  country's  religion 
and  of  our  religion.  I  shall  never  forget  the  interview. 
These  Japanese  were  upper  class  men  in  the  university. 
They  ranged  themselves,  some  thirty  men,  in  a  semi-circle 

105 


106  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

about  me,  and  then  they  began  their  questions.  How 
bright,  how  sharp,  how  searching,  were  their  questions! 
And  presently  they  reached  the  question  that  they  came  to 
ask.  They  said:  "We  follow  Buddha,  and  you  follow 
Christ.  Wherein  does  Christ  excel  Buddha?  Buddha 
teaches  this  and  that,'*  they  said,  ''and  Christ,  whom  you 
preach,  teaches  this  and  that.  Wherein  do  the  teachings 
of  Christ  excel  the  teachings  of  Buddha?"  Now,  you  can 
see  that  the  issue  was  sharply  joined.  You  know  what  I 
said,  I  take  it.  I  said:  "My  fellow-men,  Buddha  does 
teach  so  and  so,  and  standards  that  he  sets  up  in  many 
cases  are  beautiful.  Christ  teaches  so  and  so.  But  Christ 
does  more.  Christ  proposes  to  put  a  power  divine  into  the 
life  that  will  yield  itself  to  Him.  For  illustration:  Here 
are  two  trains  of  cars,  and  at  the  head  of  each  is  an  engine. 
Christ  puts  His  power  into  that  Christian  engine,  so  that 
it  can  pull  any  train  of  cars,  no  matter  how  weighty. 
Buddha  does  not  talk  about  putting  power  into  human  life. 
Buddha  does  not  talk  about  a  strength  superhuman  and 
unrivaled  and  divine,  which  he  will  put  into  his  followers. 
He  simply  holds  up  a  standard  out  there.  Christ  holds  up 
a  standard  and  says:  'Come  to  me,  with  all  your  weak- 
ness and  ignorance  and  sin;  let  me  save  and  guide  you, 
and  I  will  help  you  in  your  life  to  realize  that  standard,' 
Christianity  is  the  religion  of  a  person,  and  that  person 
is  Christ,  and  Christ  not  only  points  us  the  way  wherein 
v/e  ought  to  walk,  but  He  comes  to  us  in  our  moral  weak- 
ness and  lapse  and  failure,  and  says  to  us:  Tf  you  will 
honestly  commit  yourself  to  me,  that  I  may  guide  you  and 
master  you,  I  will  help  you  to  live  the  life  you  ought  to  i, 
live/  And,  therefore,  Christianity  outdistances  all  systems 
of  human  religion,  by  as  much  as  God  outdistances  a  man." 
It  was  good  to  see  the  response  made  by  the  students  from 
afar  to  such  appeal. 

Five  little  words  this  morning  make  our  text :  "Christ 
the  power  of  God."  They  are  found  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Paul's  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians. 

Let  me  come  at  once  to  the  heart  of  what  I  wish  to 
say,  by  asking  the  question :  How  is  Christ  the  power  of 
God?    I  answer,  first  of  all.  He  is  the  power  of  God  in  His 


A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE  107 

own  person.  Christianity  stands  or  falls  with  the  person 
of  Christ.  What  Hougoumont  was  to  Waterloo,  Christ's 
person  is  to  Christianity.  There  have  been  only  three 
views  about  the  person  of  Christ — one  that  He  was  bad, 
another  that  He  was  mad,  and  the  other  that  He  was  what 
He  everywhere  represented  himself  to  be,  namely,  that 
He  was  God  come  in  the  flesh.  When  He  was  here  there 
were  those  who  affirmed  that  He  was  bad.  They  affirmed 
that  He  was  in  league  with  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  de- 
mons. They  said:  "He  hath  an  evil  spirit,  and  is  not  to 
be  trusted."  And  then  there  were  those  who  affirmed  that 
He  was  mad«.  They  said.:  "He  is  beside  himself."  They 
said:  "He  is  crazy."  And  then  there  stands  out  the  third 
estimate  of  Him — that  He  was  not  bad,  and  that  He  was 
not  mad,  but  that  He  was  and  is  what  He  everywhere  rep- 
resented himself  to  be — God  come  in  the  flesh. 

When  Jesus  became  a  man,  He  said  in  effect  to  men, 
wherever  He  went:  "I  am  God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  I 
am  God  uncovered ;  I  am  God  foreshortened,  so  that  a 
man  with  all  his  limitations  by  reason  of  ignorance  and 
weakness  and  sin  can  find  God."  The  cry  of  the  race 
through  the  ages  has  been:  "We  would  see  Jesus.  Show 
us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us."  Jesus  came  among 
men  and  everywhere  represented  himself  as  the  possessor 
of  the  attributes  and  the  perfections  of  Deity.  That  Jesus 
was  and  is  in  His  own  person  the  power  of  God  is  attested 
by  what  He  said,  and  by  what  He  did,  and  by  what  He 
was  and  is.  I  am  compelled  intellectually  to  believe  that 
Christ  was  more  than  any  mere  man,  no  matter  from  what 
angle  I  look  at  Him. 

Will  you  look  at  His  words?  They  attest  His  deity, 
"Never  m.an  spake  like  this  man."  I  do  not  wonder  that 
when  Daniel  Webster  had  finished  the  reading  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  he  rose  up  with  pale  face  and  trembling 
words,  and  said:  "More  than  any  mere  man  has  spoken 
these  words."  Never  man  spake  like  this  man.  Christ's 
teachings  concerning  the  great  matters  that  pertain  to  life 
and  conduct  and  man  and  sin  and  character  and  destiny 
are  utterly  revolutionary  and  transforming. 


108  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

I  am  also  compelled  to  believe  that  Jesus  is  more  than 
any  mere  man  when  I  look  at  His  works,  and  one  of  His 
appeals  to  men  is:  "Believe  me,  that  I  am  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  in  me;  or  else  believe  me  for  the  works' 
sake."  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave  there  was  in  the  life 
of  Jesus  the  outflashings  of  His  divine  nature  and  power. 
When  a  little  child  yonder  on  His  mother's  heart  the  shep- 
herds came  to  worship  Him,  and  the  magi  came  with  their 
rich  gifts  to  lay  before  Him.  When  He  was  a  child  of  a 
dozen  years,  yonder  He  was  in  the  temple,  and  the  ques- 
tions that  He  both  asked  and  answered  broke  to  pieces  the 
superlative  wisdom  of  those  learned  doctors  and  teachers 
assembled  in  that  temple.  And  when  He  began  His  public 
ministry,  the  winds  and  the  waves  obeyed  Him,  and  sick- 
nesses obeyed  Him,  and  demons  obeyed  Him,  and  death 
obeyed  Him.  Jean  Paul  Richter  was  right  when  He  said 
that  Jesus  with  His  pierced  hand  had  lifted  empires  off 
their  hinges,  and  had  turned  the  stream  of  centuries  back- 
wards in  its  channel.  And  Lecky,  the  astute  philosopher, 
was  right  when  he  said  that  the  three  short  years  of  Jesus' 
public  ministry  had  done  more  to  soften  and  regenerate 
mankind  than  all  the  disquisitions  of  all  the  philosophers, 
and  all  the  exhortations  of  all  the  moralists  since  the  world 
began. 

I  am  also  compelled  to  believe  in  Christ,  that  His  own 
nature  was  divine,  and  that  in  Him  was  the  infinite  power 
of  God,  when  I  look  at  His  character.  The  standing  chal- 
lenge of  Jesus  to  mankind  is:  "Which  of  you  convicteth 
me  of  sin?"  And  the  universal  response  to  that  challenge 
is  stated  in  the  language  of  Pilate:  "I  find  no  fault  in 
Him."  Horace  Bushnell  was  right  when  he  said  that  the 
character  of  Jesus  forbids  all  possible  classification  of  Him 
with  any  and  all  other  men. 

Behold  Jesus,  this  Friday  morning,  not  a  Son  of  man, 
but  the  Son  of  man,  for  all  humanity  was  summed  up  in 
Him.  In  all  other  men,  goodness  is  but  fragmentary  and 
pitifully  imperfect.  In  the  character  of  Jesus,  goodness  is 
perfect  and  complete,  and  wanting  nothing.  If  you  would 
look  for  the  highest  example  of  meekness,  you  would  not 
look  to  Moses,  but  to  Jesus,  who  was  unapproachably  meek 


A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE  109 

and  lowly  in  heart.  If  you  would  look  for  the  highest 
example  of  patience,  you  would  not  look  to  Job,  but  to 
Jesus,  who  when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again.  If 
you  would  look  for  the  highest  example  of  wisdom,  you 
would  not  look  to  Solomon,  but  to  Jesus,  who  spake  as 
never  man  spake.  If  you  would  look  for  the  highest  ex- 
ample of  zeal,  you  would  not  look  to  Paul,  but  to  Jesus, 
about  whom  it  has  been  written :  "The  zeal  of  thine  house 
hath  eaten  me  up."  If  you  would  look  for  the  highest 
example  of  love,  you  would  not  look  to  John,  who  leaned 
on  Jesus'  bosom,  but  you  would  look  to  Jesus,  who  while 
we  were  yet  sinners  so  loved  us  as  to  die  for  us.  Goodness 
in  men,  however  wise  and  pure  their  character,  is  frag- 
mentary and  imperfect  and  incomplete.  Goodness  and 
perfection  stand  out  in  their  entirety  in  the  person  of  Jesus. 
Men  sometimes  say  to  me  that  they  cannot  believe  in 
miracles,  and  in  every  such  case  I  ask  them:  "What  will 
you  do  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth?''  He  is  the  miracle  of  the 
ages.  Jesus  of  Nazareth — what  will  you  do  with  Him? 
He  is  the  outstanding  miracle  of  all  the  centuries.  Whs^t 
will  you  do  with  Jesus? 

Forever  God,  forever  man. 

My  Jesus  shall  endure, 
And  fixed  on  Him  my  hope  remains 

Eternally  secure. 

It  was  said  of  Mozart  that  he  brought  angels  down< 
and  of  Beethoven  that  he  lifted  mortals  up.  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth does  both,  and  more.  Jesus  is  God's  way  to  man. 
Jesus  is  man's  way  to  God.  Jesus  is  the  only  true  Jacob's 
ladder,  by  which  a  sinning  man  or  woman,  if  he  or  she  will 
leave  sin  behind,  m^y  mount  up  to  be  with  God  and  to  be 
like  Him  foreve'r.  Yes,  Christ  is  the  power  of  God  in  His 
own  person.  I  marvel  that  intellectually  every  man  in  the 
world  is  not  compelled  to  bow  before  the  person  of  Christ. 

Nor  is  that  all.  Christ  is  the  power  of  God  in  history. 
The  standing  marvel  of  the  ages  is  Christ  himself,  the  Rock 
of  Ages.  An  humble  prophet  of  Nazareth  has  gone  up  and 
down  the  earth,  and  has  more  influence,  more  sway,  than 
all  the  teachers  that  earth  ever  saw  combined. 

Hushed  be  the  noise  and  the  strife  of  the  schools, 

Volume  and  pamphlet,  sermon  and  speech, 
The  lips  of  the  wise  and  the  prattle  of  fools. 

Let  the  Son  of  man  teach. 


110  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Who  has  the  key  to  the  future  but  He? 

Who  can  unravel  the  knots  of  the  skein? 
We  have  groaned  and  have  travailed  and  sought  to  be  free. 

We  have  travailed  in  vain. 

Bewildered,  dejected  and  prone  to  despair, 

To  Him,  as  at  first,  do  we  turn  and  beseech. 
Our  ears  are  all  open,  give  heed  to  our  prayer, 

O  Son  of  man,  teach. 

He  is  the  incomparable  teacher  of  all  the  ages,  and  be- 
side Him  earth's  greatest  teachers  are  as  a  tapering  candle 
beside  a  great  sun.  Christ  is  the  miracle  of  the  centuries, 
and  the  church  is  His  monument.  The  most  glorious  in- 
stitution in  all  the  earth  is  Christ's  monument — His  church. 
It  is  the  fairest  among  ten  thousand,  and  an  institution  su- 
premely lovely  and  worthy.  And  Christ's  gospel  is  the  su- 
preme instrument  of  human  civilization.  There  is  not  and  can- 
not be  any  lasting  civilization  which  excludes  the  teaching 
of  Christ.  You  may  have  your  systems  of  government,  no 
matter  how  compact  and  militaristic  and  colossal ;  you  may 
have  your  schemes  of  education,  no  matter  how  subtle  and 
clever  and  adroit  and  scientific ;  but  all  systems  human  are 
doomed  ultimately  to  go  into  the  ditch,  if  the  standards 
and  teachings  of  Christ  are  flouted  and  disregarded.  The 
Pan-European  war  is  the  demonstration  of  what  I  am  say- 
ing on  the  most  colossal  scale  in  all  human  history. 

And  now  I  am  coming  to  say  the  most  important  word 
of  all  to  you,  my  brother  men,  my  gentle  sisters.  Christ 
is  the  power  of  God  in  human  experience.  That  is  the  vital 
word  of  all.  Christianity  employs  always  the  scientific 
method  of  demonstration,  that  is,  the  method  by  experi- 
ment. Somebody  once  asked  Mr.  Coleridge  if  a  man  could 
prove  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  Mr.  Coleridge  made 
the  simple  but  complete  reply:  "Why,  certainly.  Let  him 
try  it."  Christ  comes  to  mankind  and  confidently  says 
to  them:  "Come  and  see.  Come  and  try  me.  Come  and 
test  me.  Put  me  to  the  extremest  test.  Come  and  test 
me  and  see  for  yourself,  if  I  do  net  give  you  to  know  that 
I  am  the  power  of  God  in  human  life.  Come  and  test  me, 
and  you  shall  sing  thereafter,  when  your  fellows  ask  you 
what  has  happened:  'Whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see/ 
Come  and  try  me." 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  young  woman,  unusually  trained 
and  cultured,  bedarkened  in  her  spiritual  nature  by  the 


A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE  111 

direst  kind  of  skepticism.  She  sought  interview  after  in- 
terview with  the  preacher,  and  one  day  she  said  to  him: 
''Sir,  intellectually,  I  just  cannot  accept  your  preaching  that 
Christ  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day,  as  your  Scrip- 
tures allege."  Presently,  the  preacher  said  to  her:  "Well, 
what  do  you  think  about  Christ — waiving  for  a  moment 
the  fact  of  His  resurrection — what  do  you  think  of  Him?" 
She  said:  "He  is  the  fairest  among  ten  thousand.  He  is 
the  one  altogether  lovely.  I  cannot  find  any  fault  with 
Him.  Everything  about  His  words  and  about  His  works 
and  about  His  character  to  the  last  degree  appeals  to  me." 
Then  the  minister  went  on  to  say:  "If  He  be  the  Son 
of  God  himself,  the  power  of  God  in  His  own  personality, 
if  that  be  so,  do  you  wish  to  know  it?"  After  a  moment's 
pause,  she  said :  "Assuredly,  I  do."  Then  the  minister 
said:  "You  go  alone  and  tell_JIim  that  you  are  vexed  by 
doubt  and  held  back  by  questions,  but  that  you  wish  light, 
and  that  you  will  yield  yourself  to  Him,  who  has  already 
won  your  most  admiring  appreciation ;  that  you  will  yield 
yourself  to  Him,  that  He  may  teach  you  and  help  you  and 
lead  you  in  any  way  that  He  would  have  you  go — ^just 
honestly  yield  yourself  to  Him.  Try  Him  in  that  experi- 
mental way."  She  came  back  the  next  day  with  her  face 
radiant  like  the  morning,  and  said  to  the  preacher:  "I 
cannot  prove  by  outside  proof,  that  Jesus  rose  from  the 
dead,  but  my  heart  knows  He  is  alive,  for  He  has  made  me 
alive." 

He  is  to  be  experimentally  tested,  my  fellow-men.  He 
is  to  be  tested.  Let  me  tell  you,  I  see  enough  in  one  week, 
as  do  these  honored  brother  ministers  of  mine  about  me,  to 
shut  us  up  to  the  conviction  that  Christ  is  the  power  of 
God.  We  see  enough  in  one  week  in  our  dealings  with 
men  to  be  shut  up  to  that  unhesitating  conviction.  To 
illustrate:  One  day  there  came  to  me  the  news  that  one 
of  my  fellow-workers  had  gone  down  in  the  awful  mael- 
strom of  business  failure.  Fine  fellow,  rising,  battling 
nobly,  but  the  tides  had  turned,  and  down  he  went,  and 
I  went  out  to  his  home  with  my  heart  in  my  throat,  dread- 
ing to  see  him  and  his  wife.  As  he  met  me  at  the  door, 
he  looked  years  older,  but  there  was  no  trace  of  bitterness 


112  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

on  his  face  or  in  his  eye.  He  said:  "We  are  glad  to  see 
you.  You  have  heard  about  it?"  I  said;  "Yes,  I  have 
heard,  and  I  have  come  out  to  kneel  beside  you,  and  to- 
gether we  will  talk  to  Him  who  is  able  to  turn  the  very 
shadow  of  death  into  morning.  No  man  is  to  despair  or  to 
worry  or  to  mope  because  all  his  property  is  swept  away 
in  a  brief  day.''  He  said,  speaking  quickly :  "Oh,  no ;  we 
are  not  bitter  about  it  at  all.  We  did  not  sleep  any  last 
night.  We  got  up  several  times  in  the  night,  and  like  two 
little  children  we  knelt  beside  our  bed,  and  we  promised 
new  devotion  to  the  service  of  Christ.  Oh,  no,  we  have  not 
a  bitter  thought  at  all."  And  from  that  day  to  this,  and 
that  was  years  ago,  never  have  I  heard  a  note  of  bitterness 
or  reproach  escape  their  lips,  and  time  and  again  they  have 
said  to  me:  "But  for  Christ  consciously  in  our  hearts  we 
should  have  been  submerged  when  that  black  Friday  came." 

/'  And  then,  on  another  day,  I  was  summoned  when  one 
of  our  citizens  lay  a-dying,  one  of  the  most  gifted  scientists 
I  have  known,  and  also  one  of  the  noblest  Christians.  The 
sun  sank  to  the  west,  an^jthejands  of  his  life  were  gallop- 
ing to  thejclose,  and  I  sat  there  by  him,  in  response  to  his 
invitation  that  I  come  for  a  final  conference,  and  he  said 
various  and  sundry  things  to  me,  as  I  held  his  hand.  I 
never  shall  forget  one  thing  he  said.  It  was  this:  "Oh, 
pastor,  go  on  and  preach  Christ  to  men,  and  nothing  else, 
for  nothing  else,  sir,  will  suffice  men  who  are  in  the  grip 
of  moral  loss  and  failure  and  defeat.  Men  do  not  have 
moral  resources  within  themselves  to  rise  and  climb.  Sir, 
preach  a  divine  Savior  to  a  lost  world.  Preach  that  only 
till  the  day  of  your  death."  That  last  conversation  we 
had  I  can  never  forget.  And  then,  when  he  quit  talking 
like  that  to  me,  he  said:  "I  should  like  to  speak  to  the 
children,"  and  the  children  were  brought  in,  and  he  had 
his  word,  beautiful  and  blessed,  for  every  child.  And  then, 
as  his  wife  held  that  thin  hand  and  bent  over  him  and  kissed 
the  noble  forehead,  he  said  to  her,  with  his  whispers,  as 
life's  sands  hastened  to  the  end:  "Mary,  dear,  you  will 
know  where  to  look  for  comfort  and  strength  when  I  am 
gone."  She  said:  "Indeed,  I  will."  Then  he  said:  "Mary, 
dear,  four  different  times  you  and  I  have  marched  behind 


""     A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE  113 

the  hearse  to  the  cemetery,  to  put  away  out  there,  under 
the  flowers,  one  child,  two  children,  three  children,  four 
children,  and  we  came  back,  and  every  turn  of  the  carriage 
wheels  whispered  to  us  that  the  grace  of  God  was  suffi- 
cient. Now,  Mary,  dear,  when  I  shall  go  away,  as  I  shall 
to-night,-  you  will  remember  the  Shepherd  Psalm,  and  you 
will  remember  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  and  you  will 
remember  always  to  call  on  Christ  and  be  not  afraid."  And 
she  kissed  him,  and  said :  "I  will  remember.  I  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep 
that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him  against  that  day." 
And  then  he  quietly  began  the  recitation  of  that  Twenty- 
third  Psalm,  and  when  he  reached  that  heavenly  sentence: 
"Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  thou  art  with  me,"  he  whis- 
pered, and  we  caught  it :  "See,  Mary,  He  is  with  me  now," 
and  then  he  was  gone  to  the  yonderland.  You  should 
have  seen  her  and  the  children  bear  their  grief  without  .^ 
any  murmur.  God's  grace  was  sufficient  for  them,  and  dX\J^ 
the  people  knew  it.  ^ 

And  then,  on  still  another  morning,  my  phone  rang  and 
one  of  our  young  business  men  said  to  me:  "Be  ready.  I 
will  be  at  the  door  for  you  with  a  cab  in  a  dozen  minutes. 
I  need  you  much  just  now."  I  was  there  at  the  door  wait- 
ing when  the  cab  drove  up,  and  he  jumped  out  of  the  cab, 
his  face  covered  with  tears  and  his  agitation  something 
pitiful,  and  I  took  his  hand  and  said:  "What  on  earth  is 
it?"  He  said  to  me,  with  a  plaintive  sob,  even  with  gasps 
of  sobbing:  "If  you  know  how  to  pray,  you  must  pray 
now,  for  our  flaxen-haired  little  girl  is  at  death's  door,  and 
the  doctors  give  us  no  hope  at  all.  Sir,  if  you  know  how 
to  pray,  you  will  ask  God  to  spare  her  now."  I  said :  "My 
friend,  I  will  pray  for  her,  but  not  the  way  you  suggest. 
I  would  not  pray  the  way  you  suggest  even  about  my  own 
little  children.  I  will  ask  God,  if  it  can  comport  with  His 
will,  to  spare  your  little  girl,  but  if  that  be  not  His  will, 
that  He  will  fortify  you  and  the  little  mother,  and  give 
you  grace  and  strength  to  face  it  all."  And  then  he  turned 
upon  me  wildly  and  said :  "I  suppose  I  could  bear  it  if  the 
little  girl  shall  be  taken,  but  the  little  girl's  mother  is  an 


114  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

invalid,  and  it  v/ill  kill  her  if  the  little  girl  is  taken."  I 
said:  "No,  no,  my  friend;  your  wife  is  a  joyful  Christian. 
She  has  a  secret  you  do  not  know  anything  about.  She 
has  a  secret  that  will  bear  her  up  and  fortify  her  in  the 
cloudiest  day  that  ever  comes."  By  this  time  we  had 
reached  the  home,  and  we  went  in.  The  gentle  wife  was 
beside  the  crib,  stroking  the  little  forehead  with  its  flaxen 
curls  about  it,  talking  to  the  child  asj:he  sands  oj  it^Jife 
hurriedjto J;h£  close,  and  then  talking  to  God.  And  as  we 
stood  by  her,  the  young  father  looked  at  me  with  a  gasp 
and  said:  "Isn't  my  baby  dying  right  now?"  I  said: 
"Yes,  my  friend;  she  is  dying  right  now."  And  then  he 
left  the  room,  unable  to  face  the  rest.  In  a  few  moments 
more  the  little  life  was  gone,  and  then  after  a  few  moments 
more  the  wife  said  to  me:  "Where  is  my  husband?"  I 
said:  "I  will  find  him,''  and  I  went  out  behind  the  cot- 
tage, and  found  him  wild  in  his  grief,  and  when  he  heard 
my  footfall  he  turned  to  me  and  said :  "It  is  all  over,  isn't 
it?"  I  -said:  "It  is  all  over."  And  then,  with  a  wail  never 
to  be  forgotten,  he  said:  "You  will  see  it  will  finish  my 
poor  little  invalid  wife."  I  said:  "Not  at  all,  my  friend. 
She  has  a  secret  you  do  not  know  anything  about.  She 
has  a  power  within  her  above  the  flesh,  superhuman,  God's 
own  power.  You  come  now  and  see."  And  we  came  on 
back,  and  at  the  door  we  paused,  because  she  wa.s  kneeling 
by  that  baby  again,  and  it  seemed  sacrilege  to  enter,  as 
we  heard  her  praying.  She  was  thanking  God  for  the 
little  girl,  even  though  she  had  had  her  only  three  or  four 
years.  She  was  telling  the  Master  that  she  would  always 
be  a  better  woman,  because  He  had  given  her  the  child. 
She  v/as  saying  that  it  was  "better  to  have  loved  and  lost 
than  never  to  have  loved  at  all."  And  then  she  paused, 
and  I  said:  "We  will  go  in  now,  my  friend,"  And  as  we 
entered,  she  came,  the  invalid  that  she  was,  toward  us,  and 
her  face  was  radiant.  There  were  tears  upon  it,  but  there 
were  smiles  deeper  than  the  tears.  She  put  her  frail  arms 
about  the  big  shoulders  of  her  husband,  and  said:  "Poor, 
broken-hearted  husband,  mother  is  so  sorry  for  you !  Moth- 
er knows  it  is  all  right.  Mother's  heart  is  swept  with 
peace.     Little  bits  of  heaven  have  come  down,  my  husband, 


A  RELIGION  THAT  IS  DIVINE  115 

to  me.  Mother  is  so  sorry  for  you."  Then  the  big  fellow 
turned  to  me  with  the  cry:  "If  Jesus  Christ  can  do  that 
for  my  frail  wife,  let  me  kneel  beside  my  dead  baby,  and 
you  tell  Christ  for  me  that  I  will  give  up  to  Him  right 
now."     Of  course,  Christ  saved  him  then  and  there.  '-^ 

Jesus  Christ  can  do  that.  He  docs  do  it.  Hundreds 
here  will  so  testify.  He  is  the  power  of  God  in  human  life. 
Is  He  your  power?  God  help  you,  if  He  is  not!  Oh, 
men,  my  brothers;  oh,  gentle  women,  m.y  sisters,  is  Jesus 
Christ  the  power  of  your  life?  Is  He  your  personal  Savior? 
Is  He  your  Master,  by  your  own  glad  assent  and  consent? 
Let  Him  be !  I  speak  to  you  the  sober  truth  this  Friday 
morning,  when  I  tell  you  that  you  may  go  and  drink  from 
every  spring  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  you  may  try 
the  aroma  of  every  flower  that  earth  can  give,  and  you 
will  come  back  desolate  and  dispirited  and  broken,  without 
Christ.  Earth  cannot  heal  3^our  malady.  Earth  cannot 
cure  your  hurt.  Byron  tried  it,  that  brilliant,  gifted  Byron, 
and  he  penned  this  as  the  result: 

My  days  are  in  the  yellow  leaf; 

The  flowers  and  fruits  of  love  are  gone ; 
The  worm,  the  canker,  and  the  grief 

Are  mine  alone  I 

I  read  the  confession  the  other  day  of  one  of  the  most 
prominent  actresses  to-day  on  the  world's  stage.  Admir- 
ers found  her  after  a  brilliant  performance,  after  her  ap- 
pearances had  been  often  encored,  and  roars  of  applause 
had  shaken  the  building — after  it  was  all  over,  they  found 
her  sobbing  like  a  broken-hearted  child,  and  they  said  to 
her:  "Why  woman,  you  ought  to  be  happy,  unspeakably 
happy,  even  the  happiest  of  women,  because  of  such  ap- 
plause as  your  every  appearance  calls  forth."  But  she 
answered :  "Oh,  my  heart  is  broken.  My  heart  longs  for 
something  better  and  surer  than  this."  And  it  does,  be- 
cause God  hath  set  eternity  in  the  human  heart,  and  the 
things  temporal,  therefore,  cannot  meet  the  cry  of  the 
eternal. 

Oh,  where  shall  rest  be  found, 

Rest  for  a  weary  soul? 
'Twere  vain  the  ocean's  depths  to  sound. 

Or  pierce  to  either  pole. 
Beyond  this  vale  of  tears 

There  is  a  life  above. 
Unmeasured  by  the  flight  of  years, 

And   all   that  life  is  love. 


116  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

There  is  a  death  whose  pang 

Outlasts  this  fleeting  breath. 
Oh,  what  eternal  horrors  hang 

Around  one's  second  death  I 

Lord  God  of  truth  and  grace. 

Teach  us  that  death  to  shun, 
Lest  we  be  banished  from  God's  face 

And    evermore    undone  1 

Are  you  willing  for  Christ  to  teach  you?  Are  you  will- 
ing for  Him  to  be  your  Savior?  Are  you  willing  for  Christ 
to  be  your  Savior  His  way?  He  will  never  be  otherwise. 
Are  you  willing  for  Him  to  be  yonr  Savior  His  way,  and 
that  He  may  master  your  life  according  to  His  will,  which 
is  infinite  in  wisdom  and  goodness?  If  you  are,  and  will 
thus  yield  your  life  to  Him,  you  shall  know  that  Christ  is 
the  power  of  God  in  your  own  experience.  Do  you  say, 
**Yes,  to-day  and  now,  I  answer  to  Christ's  call,  yielding 
myself  without  reserve  to  Him,  that  He  may  have  His  way 
with  me  from  this  hour  forward  forever?"  How  we  re- 
joice with  you  in  your  destiny-determ.ining  decision,  and 
we  leave  you  with  Him,  who  will  never  leave  nor  forsake 
the  soul  that  trusts  Him. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  O  Divine  Savior,  let  us  every  one  go,  songful  in 
praises,  definitely  fixed  in  heart,  inflexibly  resolved  in  purpose,  that  we  v/ill  cleave 
to  Christ  anci  cleave  to  Him  only  and  forever.  Let  us  see  that  we  shall  feed 
our  souls  on  ashes  if  we  feed  on  any  other  food  in  this  universe  apart  from  Christ. 
He  is  the  bread  which  comes  down  from  heaven,  which  if  a  soul  shall  eat,  such 
soul  shall  live,  and  live  victoriously  forevermore.  Lord,  at  this  noonday  ser\'ice 
we  would  gather  up  every  life  here  present  in  our  prayers,  and  by  humble,  united 
and  submissive  prayer,  we  would  bind  one  another,  and  by  grace  divine  be  bound, 
about  the  feet  of  Christ  forever.  The  Lord  keep  you  all  and  each,  until  the  day 
is  done,  and  beyond,  forever.     Amen. 


IX 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  15,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

Before  coming  to  the  message  of  the  evening,  I  would 
take  a  moment  to  urge  again,  with  all  my  heart,  upon  the 
Christians  who  hear  me,  all  and  each,  to  give  yourselves 
as  faithfully  as  possible,  during  these  passing  days,  to  the 
right  kind  of  religious  visiting.  Remember,  I  pray  you, 
my  fellow  Christians,  that  there  can  be  no  substitutes  for 
the  right  kind  of  personal  conversation  concerning  the 
Christian  religion.  All  about  us  people  are  dying  from  the 
lack  of  personal  attention.  In  sight  of  our  church  houses 
there  are  such  people,  and  they  cross  our  paths  from  day 
to  day,  and  numbers  of  them,  it  may  be,  live  under  the 
very  same  roof  with  us.  Oh,  I  beseech  you,  give  yourselves 
these  passing  days  to  the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting. 
If  need  be,  I  beseech  you,  do  the  unusual  thing  to  help 
somebody  who  needs  you  religiously. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  preaching  in  an  outdoor  meeting 
in  the  black  lands  belt,  to  multitudes  of  farmers,  and  one 
evening  one  of  those  honest,  earnest,  Christian  farmers 
paused  after  the  service  was  done  to  say  to  me:  "If  I 
am  not  here  in  the  morning  and  to-morrow  afternoon,  then 
you  may  know  that  I  have  gone  to  my  next-door  neighbor, 
who  is  not  a  Christian,  and  have  proffered  to  plow  for  him, 
that  he  may  come.  He  is  behind  with  his  work.  He  has 
had  sickness  in  his  family,  and  if  I  go  to  ask  him  to  come 
to  the  services,  I  know  the  excuses  he  will  give;   so  I  am 

117 


118  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

going  in  the  morning  to  offer  to  plow  for  him,  to  do  that 
neighborly  act  for  him.  I  am  going  to  urge  it  upon  him, 
and  if  I  am  not  present,  you  may  know  that  he  is  present." 
And  the  next  day  I  looked  for  my  Christian  farmer,  and  he 
was  not  present,  and  I  preached  that  day  to  the  man  he 
had  sent,  for  whom  he  plowed,  that  such  man  might  come 
to  the  Savior,  and  when  the  service  was  done  down  the 
aisle  came  the  second  farmer,  with  his  face  covered  with 
tears,  to  make  his  public  confession  of  personal  surrender 
to  Christ.  A  simple  thing  it  was  for  the  first  man  to  do, 
but  wasn't  the  outcome  glorious? 

A  mother  said  to  me :  "If  you  miss  me  to-morrow,  then 
you  may  know  that* I  am  sending  another  little  mother, 
who  is  not  a  Christian,  for  I  shall  proffer  to  stay  at  home 
and  mind  her  baby,  and  insist  that  she  come,  and  if  you 
miss  me,  know  that  you  have  one  woman  there  who  needs 
to  hear  about  Christ."  And  sure  enough,  at  the  close  of 
that  service  down  the  aisle  came  the  second  little  mother, 
and  she  said:  "When  that  Christian  mother  proffered  to 
stay  to  mind  my  baby,  that  I  might  go  to  God's  house  to 
hear  about  Christ,  my  heart  went  out,  and  I  can  no  longer 
hold  out  against  Christ."  These  are  simple  things,  but 
see  to  what  tremendous  results  they  lead. 

If  necessary,  I  pray  you,  do  the  unusual  thing,  the 
sacrificial  thing-,  to  win  somebody  to  Christ.  Make  it 
impossible,  I  pray  you,  my  fellow  Christians — make  it  im- 
possible for  anybody  around  you  to  say :  "They  have  their 
churches,  and  they  have  their  preachers,  and  now  and  then 
they  have  their  special  meetings,  but  nobody  really  cares 
for  my  soul."  Make  that  impossible.  Some  time  ago  a 
stranger  came  down  the  aisle  in  the  church  where  I  am 
glad  to  minister,  to  make  his  public  confession  of  Christ 
as  his  Savior,  and  to  take  his  place  that  Sunday  morning 
in  the  church.  He  is  the  most  widely  traveled  man  that 
I  have  personally  known  with  any  intimacy.  For  some 
twenty  years  he  has  gone  around  the  world  writing  articles 
and  gathering  important  information  for  one  of  the  fore- 
most journals  of  the  East.  Twelve  different  times  he  has 
been  around  the  globe.  He  is  a  man  who  knows  how  to 
talk  as  well  as  write,  and  I  said  to  him:    "Mr.  So-and-so, 


PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT  119 

won't  you  stand  up  and  give  your  testimony  about  Christ 
to  the  people,  without  my  asking  you  any  questions?"  And 
he  gave  a  testimony  that  morning  that  we  will  never  for- 
get. But  there  was  one  thing  in  it  that  probed  our  very 
hearts,  and  made  us  stand  aghast,  almost  with  horror, 
and  it  was  this:  He  said  to  us  that  morning:  "Though  I 
have  been  around  the  world  these  twelve  times  in  these 
twenty  years,  and  have  touched  tens  of  thousands  of  lives 
at  close  range,  in  all  realms  and  in  all  lands,  only  two 
people  in  all  these  twenty  years  have  asked  me  if  it  was 
well  with  my  soul!"  Why  the  very  thought  is  staggering! 
And  when  he  had  followed  Christ  that  night  in  beautiful 
baptism,  he  said  to  me,  as  we  came  out  of  the  baptismal 
waters:  *T  am  going  to  my  hotel  now  to  write  the  most 
grateful  word  that  I  can  write  to  those  two  men  who 
thought  enough  of  my  soul  to  ask  m.e  if  I  was  right  with 
God." 

Oh,  my  fellow  Christians,  with  an  earnestness  v/hlch 
God  would  have  3^ou  feel,  and  with  a  faithfulness  and 
with  a  humility  and  with  a  sanity,  and  Avith  that  blessed 
reasonableness  that  goes  along  with  the  religion  of  Christ, 
I  pray  you  now,  day  by  day,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  give  yourselves  like  you  ought,  to  the  right  kind  of 
religious  visiting.  We  will  pause  now  for  a  moment  and 
pray  God  to  help  us. 

THE  OPENING  PRAYER. 

We  make  our  appeal  to  thee,  O  thou  Friend  Divine,  thou  Gracious  Father  I 
Forgive  us,  that,  though  we  have  been  Christians,  many  of  us,  for  many  years,  we 
have  been  timid,  and  worse  than  that,  we  have  been  recreant  to  duty  with  respect 
to  this  most  vital  matter  of  all,  the  matter  of  speaking  the  right  word  to  people, 
concerning  Jesus  and  His  great  salvation.  We  beseech  thee  that  every  Christian 
in  this  large  throng  this  Friday  evening  may  be  personally  dedicated  from  this 
moment  for  the  days  just  before  us,  even  as  never  before,  to  that  highest,  holiest 
business  of  all,  the  effort  personal  to  point  people  in  the  heavenward  way.  Go 
thou  with  us,  ro  teach  and  help  us  in  every  effort,  O  thou  Spirit  Divine.  Clothe 
us  with  wisdom  and  patience  and  let  our  work  be  such  as  Christ  will  honor,  and 
whatever  the  result  may  be,  give  us  to  do  our  best  and  gladly  leave  the  result 
with  Christ. 

We  pray  for  this  goodly  city,  which  by  leaps  and  bounds  is  making  its  material 
expansion   and  progress.      Let  its   spiritual  progress  be   the   city's  crowning  pros- 

f>erity.  Lord,  hear  our  prayer  for  every  house  in  all  this  city.  Hear  our  praver 
or  the  great  army  of  laboring  mtn  and  business  men  and  professional  men,  who 
from  early  m.orn  till  dewy  eve  give  themselves  earnestly  and  diligently  to  the 
demands^  of  the  big  battle  of  life.  Hear  our  fervent  prayer  for^  those  who  rule 
and  minister  in  the  city's  affairs.  Clothe  them  with  heavenly  wisdom  and  grace 
that  they  may  rule  for  the  highest  good  of  the  people  and  for  the  glory  of  God. 
Hear  our  prayer  for  parents,  charged  with  the  solemn  trust  of  rearing  their  chil- 
dren for  present  and  eternal  blessedness.  Hear  our  prayer  for  every  friend  Christ 
has  in  this  city,  of  every  name.  May  the  mercy  of  God  and  His  grace  be  abun* 
dantly^  meted  out  to  CTery  such  friend  of  God,  and,  oh,  may  we  be  better  friend* 
for  Him  and  better  workers  for  Him  with  every  passing  hour. 


120  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Hear  our  prayer  for  this  Friday  evening's  service.  May  our  hearts  be  divinely 
opened  by  the  good  Spirit  Divine  to  attend  unto  that  wliich  Christ  would  have 
us  heed  and  hear.  May  the  right  word  be  said.  Thou  knowest,  Lord,  what  such 
word  should  be.  None  of  us  know,  but  thou  knowest.  Guide  us,  that  the  right 
word  shall  be  said,  and  said  in  the  right  temper,  and  wing  it  home,  we  pray  thee, 
to  every  waiting  heart.  And  may  we  do  to-night  with  Christ's  truth  just  what 
we  ought  to  do,  and  what  we  will  wish  we  had  done  when  we  stand  in  that  day 
of  days  to  give  our  personal  account  to  Christ.  And  we  pray  it  all  in  His  all 
prevailing  name.     Amen! 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT. 

Text:    "How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?" — Heb.  2:3. 

The  Bible  calls  our  attention  always  to  the  big  ques- 
tions of  life,  to  the  immense  questions,  to  the  eternally 
important  questions.  For  example:  "If  a  man  die,  shall 
he  live  again?"  Millions  are  asking  that  question  afresh 
in  this  time  of  world  war  and  world  crisis.  Or  take  this 
question:  "Is  thine  heart  right?"  Or  take  this  question: 
"What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul?"  Or  take  this  question :  "What  is 
your  life?"  The  Bible  asks  the  big  questions,  the  tran- 
scendently  momentous  questions.  Let  us  take  one  of  these 
big  questions  out  of  the  Bible  to-night  for  our  text,  a  ques- 
tion intensely  personal  for  us  all  and  each:  "How  shall 
we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?"  There  is 
one  word  in  the  text  that  points  the  reason  why  men  and 
women  are  finally  lost,  and  you  have  guessed  that  word, 
as  I  quoted  the  text,  or  you  will  guess  it  now,  when  I 
quote  it  again:  "How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so 
great  salvation?"  Now  you  know  the  word  that  points 
the  reason  why  men  and  women  are  finally  lost.  In  this 
Christian  land  of  ours  men  and  women  are  finally  lost,  not 
because  they  intend  it.  Do  you  suppose  anybody  really 
intends,  deliberately  intends,  to  be  lost,  deliberately  in- 
tends to  miss  heaven,  with  all  that  it  has  and  shall  ever 
be?  Do  you  suppose  that  any  human  being  deliberately 
plans,  definitely  plans,  to  miss  the  upward  way?  Why, 
then,  do  they  miss  it?  One  little  word  in  our  text  points 
the  answer :  "Neglect."  "How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neg- 
lect so  great  salvation?" 

The  whole  world  is  a  battle-field  covered  over  with  the 
v/recks  occasioned  by  neglect.  You  may  behold  such 
wrecks  constantly  in  the  world  temporal  all  about  you. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  121 

How  many  a  time  is  the  sight  vouchsafed  unto  us  of 
young  people,  with  prospect  and  promise,  who  in  life's 
morning  neglect  proper  habits,  proper  training,  proper  dis- 
cipline, and  go  out  unprepared  for  the  big  battle  of  life. 
Oh,  if  in  life's  mtDrning,  the  time  for  preparation,  the  time 
for  discipline  and  the  forming  of  right  habits,  they  would 
only  study  and  give  themselves  to  those  habits  that  belong 
so  properly  and  so  vitally  to  youth,  how  different  their 
life  story  and  battle  would  be!  Often  when  it  is  too  late, 
the  remorseful  memory  of  neglect  burns  like  some  coal  of 
fire! 

Or  look  into  the  realm  of  health.  The  kindly  doctor 
is  summoned  some  day  to  the  loved  one  under  our  roof, 
and  he  makes  his  careful  diagnosis,  and  his  face  is  serious, 
and  he  makes  the  suggestion,  tactfully  but  earnestly :  "This 
case  calls  for  a  complete  change,  a  change  in  climate.  Con- 
ditions here  are  alarming.  Make  the  change  without  de- 
lay." The  skillful  scientist  advises,  but  we  presume,  and 
the  suffering  patient  presumes.  We  hope  against  hope. 
We  wonder  if  the  doctor  is  not  mistaken.  And  the  weeks 
drag  on,  and  the  case  suddenly  plunges  downward  for  the 
worse,  and  the  doctor  is  summoned  again,  and  again  makes 
his  careful  diagnosis,  and  his  face  is  now  terribly  be- 
clouded. Full-fledged  tuberculosis  holds  the  patient  in  its 
grasp!  Oh,  neglect,  neglect,  what  mischiefs  thou  dost 
work  in  the  realm  of  health! 

And  now,  when  we  pass  the  subject  up  to  the  higher 
realm,  the  supreme  realm,  the  realm  of  religion,  how  trag- 
ically and  how  terribly  true  it  is  that  neglect  there,  in  that 
highest  realm,  gets  in  its  most  undoing  work.  Even  we 
Christians  must  all  along  bewail  ourselves  that  our  neglect 
has  been  so  serious.  I  daresay  there  is  not  a  Christian  lis- 
tening to  me,  certainly  not  one  of  any  extended  experi- 
ence, but  whose  heart  is  touched  with  a  twinge  of  deepest 
sorrow  as  you  give  yourself  for  a  little  while  to  memory, 
to  recollection,  and  have  come  trooping  back  to  you  the 
memories  of  duties  neglected,  of  opportunities  forfeited, 
of  privileges  that  have  been  allowed  to  slip  away  unim- 
proved, which  privileges  are  gone  now  and  shall  be  re 
turnless  forever.     Even  we  Christians  must  all  along* 


122  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

wail  ourselves  that  in  this  manner  and  that  and  the  other 
we  have  so  sadly  neglected  in  the  great  matters  of  religion. 
We  have  neglected  people.  We  have  forgotten  people.  We 
have  overlooked  people.  We  have  passed  by  people.  We 
have  given  attention  to  the  smaller  things,  the  slighter 
things,  the  less  consequential  things;  and  the  vast  things, 
the  supremely  worthful  things,  have  often  gotten  by  us, 
and  through  neglect  they  have  gone,  and  gone  to  come 
back  no  more. 

Have  you  ever  had  a  religious  census  taken  of  this  city? 
I  daresay  you  have  had  such  from  time  to  time,  even  as  I 
have  seen  such  from  time  to  time  in  my  own  city.  Dur- 
ing the  last  one  had  in  my  city  there  came  back  into  my 
hands  some  six  thousand  cards.  Oh,  what  revelations 
were  on  those  cards!  Hundreds  of  names  were  on  those 
cards  of  men  and  women  who  elsewhere  had  been  mem.bers 
of  the  church,  but  who  had  turned  away  from  their  home 
back  yonder  in  some  other  community,  the  city  or  the 
village  or  the  countr}^  place ;  who  had  come  up  to  the  city 
and  had  got  caught  in  the  currents  and  had  drifted  with 
the  tide,  and  through  neglect  they  had  not  positionized 
themselves  with  the  church  at  all.  Just  through  neglect 
they  had  gone  with  the  tide  and  were  far  away  from  the 
church  and  religious  habits.  Here  was  one  who  was  once 
a  Sunday  school  worker,  devoted  back  yonder,  but  now 
that  a  change  of  residence  is  made,  he  has  drifted  with 
the  tide,  and  no  deep  religious  habits  hold  him  at  all.  Here 
v/as  one  who  was  an  officer  yonder  in  the  church  in  an- 
other place,  but  he  came  to  the  city,  and  he  was  not  known, 
and  others  did  not  specially  take  hold  of  him,  and  he  sadly 
wandered,  anr!  ^*s  religious  habits  were  broken.  Oh,  the 
■f-r-  -    '  ^.ome  to  many  a  man  just  in  that  way ! 

r  if  this  Friday  evening  I  am  speaking 

ad  women  who  in  the  other  days  walked 

great  Master,  who  came  up  gladly  and 

he  house  of  God  at  the  time  appointed 

who  followed  the  Christian  habits  de- 

ntiously;    and  yet  you  have  come  to 

langes  have  been  marked  from  what 

re  you  lived,  and  your  habits  religious 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  123 

have  been  broken,  and  your  duties  religious  have  been 
neglected.  Oh,  I  would  lift  up  my  voice,  and  I  would  send 
out  to  you  the  most  brotherly  pleading  I  can — change  that 
course,  and  change  it  without  delay!  Take  your  place,  I 
pray  you,  with  God's  people.  Come  back  again,  I  pray 
you,  to  the  church,  v/hich  since  you  have  resided  here  you 
may  have  neglected.  Take  up  again,  I  pray  you,  the  habits 
that  go  along  with  the  vital  Christian  life,  and  let  those 
habits  be  again  regnant  in  your  life.  See  to  it  that  in 
your  own  house  and  in  your  own  life  such  ideals  and  prece- 
dents and  standards  are  lifted  up  as  shall  give  increasing 
gladness  to  your  own  heart,  and  as  shall  be  a  blessing  to 
all  about  you.  And  if  you  Christian  men  and  women  who 
listen  to  me,  who  are  positionized  in  the  church  with 
Christ's  people,  know  of  such  people  who  are  drifting  with 
the  tide,  duty-neglecting  Christians,  with  their  church 
membership  elsewhere,  with  their  church  letters  in  their 
trunks,  with  their  memberships  lapsed,  oh,  I  pray  you,  give 
yourselves  at  that  point,  in  the  hours  before  you,  to  helping 
such  men  and  women,  who  need  your  counsel  and  good 
cheer,  and  who  need  your  re-enforcement.  Every  Chris- 
tian in  this  community,  not  positively  identified  with  the 
people  of  God,  every  secret  disciple  of  Jesus  in  this  com- 
munity, or  going  his  way  with  his  light  hidden  under  a 
bushel,  makes  it  harder  for  Christ's  people  to  do  Christ's 
work  in  this  city,  and  makes  it  more  difficult  for  sinners 
about  you  to  be  saved.  Oh,  friend  of  Jesus,  whoever  and 
wherever  you  are,  friend  of  Jesus,  come  now  and  cease 
your  neglect,  I  pray  you,  and  take  your  place  positively; 
be  positionized  conscientiously  and  consistently,  I  pray 
you,  with  the  people  of  God. 

But  now  I  turn  away  from  the  appeal  to  duty-neglect- 
ing Christians  to  address  my  word  to  the  one  here  v/ho  is 
not  a  Christian  at  all.  The  tragedy  of  neglect  in  your 
case  is  a  tragedy  indeed  appalling.  How  shall  you  escape, 
if  you  just  neglect,  if  you  simply  neglect,  if  you  merely 
neglect,  so  great  salvation?  Men  do  not  have  to  blaspheme 
God  to  be  finally  lost.  Men  do  not  have  to  lift  up  their 
little  fists  clinched  in  the  face  of  the  holy  and  omnipotent 
Almighty,  to  be  lost.     Men  have  only  to  go  on  down  the 


124  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

tide,  floating,  drifting,  neglecting,  to  be  finally  lost.  Neg- 
lect is  the  tragedy  of  all  tragedies  in  the  deadly  lujdoing 
of  human  souls. 

And  now  note,  I  pray  you,  what  is  involved  in  this 
matter  of  your  neglect.  Your  salvation  is  involved.  "How 
shall  we  escape,"  our  text  asks  us,  "if  we  neglect  so  great 
salvation?"  Your  salvation  is  involved.  Your  salvation! 
Oh,  what  can  compare  vnth  that?  Christ  Jesus  came  down 
from  heaven,  and  He  comes  yet,  in  the  power  of  His  gos- 
pel, to  give  us  His  great  salvation.  Christ  comes  to  save 
us  in  our  totality.  He  would  save  not  only  our  souls,  our 
spirits — Christ  would  save  our  lives.  Christ  would  save 
our  bodies.  He  would  save  our  brains.  He  would  save 
our  influence.  He  would  save  our  personality.  He  would 
save  us  completely,  entirely,  leaving  nothing  out.  Christ 
came  to  save  us  from  sin  unto  righteousness,  from  selfish- 
ness unto  magnanimity  and  largeness  and  nobleness.  Christ 
came  to  save  us  from  littleness  unto  greatness.  Christ 
came  to  save  us  from  the  small  to  the  large.  Christ  came 
to  save  us  from  defeat  to  triumph.  Christ  came  to  save 
us  from  night  unto  day.  Christ  came  to  save  us  from  hell 
unto  heaven.  Christ  came  to  save  us  in  our  whole  life, 
in  our  service,  in  our  business,  in  our  daily  task,  completely. 
Christ  came  thus  to  save  us.  Surely,  His  is  a  great  sal- 
vation. 

Oh,  my  friend,  getting  to  heaven  is  a  very,  very  impor- 
tant matter,  but  Christ  means  a  great  deal  more  than  that, 
by  His  great  salvation.'^  Christ  comes  to  fit  you  to  live 
here  and  now,  to  fit  you  for  your  task,  whatever  your  task 
is.  Are  you  a  toiler  at  this  or  that,  a  man  of  business, 
in  the  professional  world — a  man  of  leadership?  Christ 
comes  and  proffers  you  His  own  grace  and  forgiveness 
and  mercy  and  divine  re-enforcement,  that,  whatever  your 
sphere,  your  lot,  your  post,  your  task,  life  may  be  con- 
served and  saved.  Tell  me,  what  is  a  human  life  for? 
What  is  that  hand  for?  What  is  the  eye  for?  What  is 
human  life  for?  Christ  would  save  your  life  to  all  that 
is  highest  and  truest  and  noblest  and  best.  Christ  comes 
to  give  a  completed  life.  Christ  does  not  come  to  crib  and 
<:offin  and  confine  you  in  some  little,  ignoble,  superficial, 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  125 

unworthy  life.  Christ  conies  proffering  to  take  out  of  your 
life  not  a  solitary  thing  except  that  which  poisons  and 
maims  and  kills.  The  sanest  thing  on  the  face  of  this 
earth  is  to  be  a  friend  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  came  to  give 
His  great  salvation ;  and  no  matter  how  much  a  man  may 
rise,  how  high  he  may  climb,  how  great  may  be  his  achieve- 
ments, man's  life  is  vitiated  and  the  true  end  of  life  is 
defeated  and  lost,  if  a  man  lives  counter  to  the  will  of 
Christ  Jesus,  the  one  rightful  Master  of  mankind. 

Napoleon  came  with  his  soldiers  to  cross  the  desert  on 
one  of  his  long  marches,  and  in  that  early  morning  v/hen 
they  started  across  the  desert,  the  historian  tells  us  that 
the  hot  sun  came  down  on  the  white  sands,  and  the  light 
and  heat  reflected  made  the  men  pant  for  water,  as  they 
marched  across  that  terrible  desert.  In  their  fierce  thirst, 
they  looked  everywhere  for  water,  but  the  wells  were  dry, 
and  no  water  could  be  found.  Then  they  looked  out  there 
a  little  distance  ahead  and  saw  a  beautiful  lake  of  water, 
right  out  in  the  desert  before  them,  and  they  lifted  up  a 
shout  of  joy,  and  started  in  a  run  toward  the  water,  but 
as  they  ran  toward  that  lake,  the  lake  ran.  As  they  got 
nearer,  the  lake  receded  and  got  farther  away.  It  was  not 
a  lake  of  water  at  all.  It  was  a  mirage  of  the  desert,  such 
as  you  and  I  have  seen  many  a  time  in  this  great  West. 
It  was  a  cheat.  It  was  a  delusion.  It  was  a  snare.  Oh, 
my  fellow-man,  traveling  with  me  through  time  to  an  eter-^ 
nity  endless,  that  picture  of  the  mirage  in  the  desert  is 
the  picture  of  human  life  at  its  best,  without  God.  With- 
out God,  life  is  defeated,  and  its  true  aim  vitiated  and 
missed  and  lost — without  God.  Awful  expression  is  that 
in  the  Bible:  "Having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the 
world."    -^ 

Jesus  comes  with  His  great  salvation  to  save  us  from 
our  past.  Oh,  that  would  be  wonderful,  wonderful,  won- 
derful !  If  some  power  could  come  into  my  life  and  take  my 
life,  with  its  chapters  that  I  regret  to  think  about,  with  its 
remorseful  memories,  with  its  evil  hours,  with  its  mistaken 
words  and  deeds,  wonderful  would  be  that  power,  to  come 
into  my  life  and  say :  "I  will  forgive  it  all,  and  I  will  blot 
out  every  evil  thing  in  your  past,  every  one.  so  that  the 


126  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

record  shall  be  white  like  the  snow."  What  a  wonderful 
power  that  would  be!  Christ  is  that  power.  This  is  His 
promise:  "I  will  blot  out  your  sins,  and  put  them  as  far 
from  you  as  the  East  is  from  the  West,  oh,  sinner,  if  you 
will  come  and  honestly  surrender  to  me." 

But  that  is  not  all.  Christ  saves  us  in  our  stressful, 
eventful,  important  present.  Christ  saves  us  and  would 
save  us  in  the  big  battle  that  we  are  fighting  here  and  now, 
at  the  daily  task,  with  the  responsibilities  thick  and  many 
that  come  to  confront  us.  Christ  is  man's  supreme  need 
now.'*'  More  than  he  needs  human  support,  more  than  he 
needs  bread  and  meat,  more  than  he  needs  good  health, 
more  than  he  needs  fame,  more  than  he  needs  money,  a 
human  being  needs  Christ  to  be  the  guide  and  re-enforce- 
ment of  his  daily  earthly  life.  Christ  offers  to  be  that  for 
those  that  will  be  His  friends. 

Nor  is  that  all.  Christ  comes  to  the  one  who  will  hon- 
estly be  His  friend  and  says  to  Him:  ''You  need  not  be 
afraid  of  what  is  coming  next.  You  need  not  be  afraid 
of  the  evil  tidings  that  you  shall  hear.  You  need  not  be 
afraid  of  some  black  Friday  in  the  future.  You  need  not 
be  afraid  of  that  grim  sarcasm  of  human  life,  which  you 
shall  face  at  the  close,  the  name  of  which  is  Death.  You 
need  not  be  afraid  of  what  is  coming  after  death.  You 
need  not  be  afraid  to  face  Christ  at  His  judgment  bar. 
You  need  not  be  afraid  of  what  is  coming  during  God's 
great  beyond  forever.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of  anything 
at  all,  now  or  hereafter,  if  you  will  only  be  the  friend  of 
Christ.  Oh,  my  brother  men,  isn't  that  a  salvation  worth 
having?  Can  you  afrord  for  any  consideration  to  leave  it 
out,  and  pass  it  by,  and  do  without  it? 

Now  I  am  coming,  in  view  of  all  that  is  involved,  to 
ask  you  who  are  neglecting  your  ow^n  highest  welfare,  your 
soul's  welfare,  if  you  won't  cease  your  neglect,  and  cease 
it  from  this  hour?  V/hat  arguments  shall  I  marshal  to 
help  you,  to  persuade  you,  to  encourage  you,  if  I  may,  to 
cease  your  neglect  of  your  own  highest  v/elfare?  What 
arguments  shall  I  suaimon? 

Let  me  name  three.  There  are  m?ny  to  be  named, 
but  at  this  time  let  me  briefly  name  three,  with  a  passing 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  12T 

word  of  amplification  in  each  case.  First  of  all,  I  am  com- 
ing to  say  that  you  should  give  up  your  neglect  of  your 
own  salvation  because  such  neglect  is  unreasonable.  Now, 
when  the  preacher  comes  and  make  his  appeal  to  reason, 
what  a  great  appeal  it  is!  That  is  Christ's  first  appeal  to 
the  children  of  men.  He  makes  the  appeal  to  reason. 
"Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord." 
Come  now,  oh,  men  and  women,  and  let  us  reason  together. 
Sharpen  your  wits  now  and  enter  into  a  controvers}^  with 
God.  Come  now  and  let  us  reason  together.  So,  then,  the 
first  appeal  to  you  to  cease  your  neglect  is  that  your  neg- 
lect of  your  spiritual  welfare  is  utterly  unreasonable.  When 
the  preacher  makes  the  appeal  to  reason,  every  sentient, 
reasonable  man  ought  to  open  wide  the  avenue  to  his  mind 
and  say:  "I  will  listen  to  that  appeal."  Your  neglect  of 
your  soul  is  unreasonable.  Can  it  be  reasonable  for  a 
human  being  to  neglect  God,  who  made  him?  Can  that 
be  reasonable?  Can  it  be  reasonable  for  me,  the  creature 
of  a  day,  with  my  life  utterly  contingent  on  the  will  of 
God — can  it  be  reasonable  for  me  to  turn  my  back  and 
turn  my  heart  away  from  God?  Can  that  be  reasonable? 
Do  I  not  owe  to  my  Maker  certain  inescapable  obligations, 
and  can  it  be  reasonable  for  me  to  ignore  them  and  forget 
them? 

And  more,  can  it  be  reasonable  for  me,  a  creature  who 
must  face  the  future,  to  ignore  that  future,  and  fail  to  make 
provision  for  that  inescapable  future — can  that  be  reason- 
able? Why,  that  little  squirrel  there  in  the  autumn  time 
would  teach  us.  You  can  see  it  gathering  the  nuts  and 
gathering  the  corn,  and  storing  them  away  in  the  hollow 
tree,  so  that  it  shall  have  provision  when  the  winter  day 
comes  and  the  day  of  need  shall  call.  The  little  squirrel 
teaches  us.  And  the  little  ant,  which  we  trample  all  un- 
knowingly beneath  our  feet,  if  we  would  pause  and  look 
carefully,  we  should  see  it  carrying  its  provisions  out  there 
to  a  common  storehouse,  that  it  may  have  supplies  when 
the  day  of  need  and  rigorous  demand  shall  call  for  supplies. 
And  shall  a  creature  made  in  the  image  of  G<xi — shall  a 
human  being,  upon  whom  God  hath  set  the  eternal  stamp, 
shall  a  creature  made  to  live  when  those  stars  by  night, 


128  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

and  the  sun  by  day  shall  be  blotted  out  forever,  and  when 
we  live  on  in  a  world  to  come,  eternal  in  its  duration — ■ 
can  there  be  any  reason  for  such  a  being  failing  to  provide 
for  that  great  and  endless  future? 

Then  I  ask  your  consideration  to  another  argument 
why  you  should  cease  your  neglect  of  yourself,  and  cease 
it  now,  and  that  is  that  your  neglect  of  your  soul's  wel- 
fare is  not  right.  Now,  when  the  preacher  makes  the 
appeal  to  right,  what  a  challenging  appeal  he  makes !  Oh, 
what  a  great  word  is  that  word  ''right!"  "Right"  is  the 
word  that  makes  history.  "Right"  is  the  word  that  thrills 
through  the  ages.  This  is  ever  the  big  question  of  all: 
Is  this  thing  right?  When  the  preacher  comes  and  makes 
the  appeal  to  right,  what  a  commanding  appeal  he  makes 
to  the  children  of  men!  I  am  coming,  then,  to  say  that 
your  neglect  of  your  soul's  salvation  is  not  right  to  any 
creature  in  God's  vast  universe.  It  is  not  right  toward 
anybody.  First  of  all,  I  have  already  hinted  at  it,  it  is 
not  right  toward  God.  Surely,  you  will  not  contend  that 
it  can  be  right  for  the  creature  to  ignore  and  to  neglect 
his  Creator.  You  will  not  say  that  that  can  be  right. 
Some  obligations  to  God  are  inexorable  and  inescapable. 
You  will  not  say  that  they  may  be  mocked,  and  that  to 
mock  them  would  be  right.  Surely,  gratitude  —  what  a 
praiseworthy  quality  that  is  in  human  life! — gratitude 
should  spur  every  right-thinking  man  in  the  world  to  turn 
to  God,  from  whom  comes  every  blessing,  and  say  to  God : 
"What  wouldst  thou  have  at  my  hands?  After  thy  mercy 
and  grace  and  benediction  and  goodness,  gratitude  inspires 
me  to  respond  to  whatever  thou  askest." 

There  is  another  argument.  Your  neglect  is  not  right 
to  yourself.  Men  owe  some  duties  to  themselves.  Men 
owe  it  to  themselves  to  make  the  most  and  the  best  of  them- 
selves. No  human  being  should  fling  life  away,  and  de- 
bauch it,  and  prostitute  it,  and  trifle  with  it.  Every  human 
being  owes  an  inescapable  obligation  to  himself  to  make 
the  most  and  the  best  of  himself.  Then  would  you  tell  me 
that  a  man  has  the  right  to-night,  while  we  are  worshiping 
here  quietly,  such  man  yonder  in  the  city  somewhere, 
wearied  out  by  sin,  or  disappointed,  no  matter  what  the 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  129 

occasion,  to  put  the  deadly  gun  to  his  temple  and  end  his 
mortal  life?  No,  no!  It  cannot  be  right.  Suicide  cannot 
be  justified,  and  by  as  much  as  the  human  soul  outranks 
the  human  body  in  worth,  is  suicide  of  soul  utterly  inde- 
fensible and  unjustifiable.  Every  soul  rational  that  shall 
miss  the  upward  way  and  go  the  downward  way  shall  be 
a  spiritual  suicide.  God  is  never  at  fault  and  never  will 
be,  that  a  rational  soul  misses  the  upward  way. 

But  that  is  not  all  the  argument  about  being  and  doing 
right.  I  have  said  that  your  neglect  of  your  soul  is  not 
right  toward  God,  and  that  it  is  not  right  toward  yourself. 
Now  I  am  coming  to  add  this  other  word:  Your  neglect 
of  your  soul  is  not  right  toward  anybody  else  on  the  face 
of  this  earth.  We  have  inescapable  relations  to  one  an- 
other, and  these  relations  should  not  be  broken  and  ig- 
nored. Our  lives  are  bound  up  with  one  another,  and  we 
will  help  or  hurt  one  another  every  day  we  live.  I  tell  you, 
gentlemen,  that  is  an  argument  to  take  deep  hold  upon 
every  normal  man  and  upon  every  sensitive  conscience. 
You  and  I  are  daily  helping  people  upward  by  our  personal 
influence,  or  daily  we  are  dragging  them  downward  by  our 
same  personal  influence.  And  I  speak  to  you  the  sober 
truth  when  I  declare  that  no  human  being  has  the  moral 
right  to  occupy  a  position  anywhere,  in  the  occupancy  of 
which  position  he  may  hurt  somebody  else.  No  human 
being  has  that  right. 

In  a  city  where  I  preached  in  other  years,  two  young 
lawyers  often  were  seen  in  the  congregation.  They  had 
come  from  some  smaller  community  to  the  larger  city, 
there  to  build  their  business  and  to  live  their  lives.  Inter- 
esting young  men  they  were,  partners  in  the  high  realm 
of  law.  One  of  earth's  most  honorable  callings  is  that  of 
the  worthy  lawyer !  I  became  interested  in  the  young  men 
profoundly.  They  came  time  and  again  to  the  series  of 
meetings  such  as  these.  Night  after  night  I  spoke  to  the 
people,  and  those  two  young  lawyers,  inseparable  young 
fellows,  came  night  after  night  to  the  services.  One  morn- 
ing I  called  upon  them  at  their  office  to  confer  with  them 
about  personal  religion.  Happily,  I  found  them  alone,  and 
as  carefully  as  I  could  I  felt  my  way  into  their  lives,  and 


130  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

they  were  talking  after  a  moment  or  two  rather  freely,  and 
when  at  last  I  asked  them :    ''Why  are  you  not  openly  and 
positively  on  the  side  of  Christ?"  they  said:    '^We  will  give 
you  a  reason.    Perhaps  you  won't  think  it  a  good  one."    I 
said:     "I  should  certainly  like  to  know  it,  whatever  it  is, 
because  I  am  deeply  interested  in  you."     Then  they  pointed 
me  to  Judge  So-and-so,  one  of  the  most  successful  lawyers 
of  the  community,  and  they  said :    "He  is  not  a  Christian. 
He  is  not  a  church  man,  and  we  have  taken  him  for  our 
model."     I  said :    "You  have  indeed  chosen  a  splendid  man, 
but  no  man  in  the  world  should  be  any  man's  model.     He 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  I  know.     I  delight  to 
call  him  my  personal  friend.     They  said :    "Well,  he  rarely 
goes  to  church,  he  is  a  first-class  lawyer  and  a  very  useful 
citizen,  and  we  have  concluded  that  if  he  can  afford  to 
pass  personal  religion  by,  with  his  intellectuality  and  suc- 
cess and   standing,   so   can  we  pass   it  by.     That,"  they 
said,  "is  about  all  the  plea  we  can  give  for  not  being  pub- 
licly for  Christ."  I  told  them  other  things  which  were  in  my 
mind,  which  I  need  not  relate  here,  but  my  own  mind  was 
made  up  as  to  what  I  should  do,  as  I  left  them,  and  I  went 
straight  to  the  Judge's  office,  and  fortunately  found  him 
alone.     He  greeted  me  cordially,  for  he  was  everything 
that  goes  to  make  the  superb  gentleman.     I  said :    "I  need 
not  sit  down,  Judge.     You  are  busy,  and  so  am  I.     I  have 
come  to  ask  you  a  question  in  ethics."     His  eyes  twinkled 
with  merriment,  as  he  said:     "This  is  a  question  for  you 
preachers  and  teachers  —  this  question  in  ethics."    I  said: 
"Yes,  and  a  question  it  is  for  the  lawyer  and  the  doctor 
and  the  farmer  and  the  merchant  and  the  banker  and  the 
editor,  and  everybody  else."     "All  right,"  he  said,  "what 
is   your   question   in   ethics?"     I   said:     "Would  you   say 
that  a  man  had  the  moral  right  to  occupy  some  position, 
in  the  occupancy  of  which  position  he  will  hurt  somebody 
else?    Does  he  have  that  moral  right?"    And  he  turned 
upon  me,  with  his  strong,  clear  eyes  and  manly  face,  and 
with  conviction  surpassing  in  his  voice,  said:     "No,  no! 
No  man  has  the  moral  right  to  occupy  any  position  in  the 
occupancy  of  which  he  will  hurt  somebody  else.     What 
is  the  application  of  your  question  in  ethics?"     And  then 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  131 

I  told  my  story  to  him  of  my  visit  to  the  two  young  men, 
and  what  they  said  to  me,  and  how  they  were  even  then 
sheltering  behind  him.  I  can  never  forget  his  agitation. 
He  went  over  to  the  window  in  the  large  building,  and 
lifted  it  on  that  wintry  day,  and  looked  out  on  the  crowds 
that  surged  in  the  streets  below.  Then  he  came  back,  and 
said:  "I  cannot  answer  that  question,  can  I?"  I  said: 
"Only  in  one  way,  sir.  You  might  be  given  a  thousand 
years  to  find  the  way  to  answer  that  question,  but  there 
is  just  one  right  way  to  answer  it."  After  a  moment  or 
two  more  of  conversation,  he  said :  "I  will  be  at  the  services 
to-night,"  and  I  bade  him  good-morning  without  another 
word.  Day  wore  to  nightfall,  and  I  stood  up  to  preach.  I 
looked  everywhere,  and  yonder  were  the  two  young  men. 
I  looked  carefully  again,  and  there  was  the  Judge  coming 
in,  and  the  young  usher  gave  him  a  chair  to  my  left.  That 
evening  I  preached  to  one  man,  for  if  I  may  win  him 
there  is  no  telling  what  may  be  the  result  upon  others. 
When  the  sermon  was  ended,  I  asked :  "Who,  for  his  own 
sake,  first  of  all,  and  then  for  the  sake  of  somebody  else 
who  may  be  sheltering  behind  him,  perhaps  all  unknown 
to  himself,  will  make  his  surrender  to  Christ?  Who  will 
come  down  the  aisle  and  say:  *That  is  my  case,  and  that 
is  my  decision?'"  Down  the  long  aisle  came  the  noble 
Judge  and  took  my  hand,  with  a  seriousness  one  would 
never  forget,  and  as  he  held  my  hand  and  talked  for  a 
moment,  he  said:  "That  question  in  ethics  got  me  this 
morning.  You  had  not  reached  the  street,  this  morning, 
until  I  shut  the  door  and  locked  it,  and  fell  on  my  knees, 
and  said:  *Great  God,  has  it  come  to  this,  that  I  am 
staying  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God  myself,  and  by  the 
power  of  my  personal  influence,  taking  others  in  the  down- 
ward way?  Help  me,  that  m}?-  influence  may  be  saved, 
as  well  as  my  soul/ "  He  had  just  finished  saying  all 
this  when  I  said:  "Look,  Judge,  behind  you,"  and  turn- 
ing, he  saw  behind  him  the  two  young  lawyers,  waiting 
until  he  had  finished,  to  take  my  hand  and  to  take  his, 
and  with  a  sob  in  each  one  of  their  throats  they  said: 
"When  we  saw  you  start.  Judge,  the  thing  was  decided 
with  us." 


132  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Oh,  my  men,  my  brother  men!  My  brother  men!  You 
for  your  own  sake  should  take  the  step  supreme  for  your 
soul.  But  the  issue  is  infinitely  bigger  than  that.  You  should 
take  the  step  for  the  sake  of  everybody  else.  A  man's  uncon- 
scious influence  has  the  largest  power  of  all — a  man's  un- 
conscious influence — the  influence  he  does  not  know  any- 
thing about.  It  goes  out  from  every  man  like  the  fra- 
grance from  the  flower,  and  it  goes  wider  and  deeper  and 
farther  than  any  human  being  can  even  comprehend.  It 
is  that  unconscious  influence  that  often  gets  in  its  deadliest 
and  most  undoing  work  over  others.  You  are  position- 
ized.  The  measure  of  every  one  of  us  is  taken  in  our 
community.  People  discuss  us,  and  they  think  about  us. 
And  in  that  deepest,  highest  realm  of  all,  in  the  realm  of 
religion,  they  take  our  measure,  all  of  us,  in  the  communi- 
ties where  we  live.  Our  unconscious  influence  is  the  most 
serious  of  all. 

The  papers  told  us  awhile  ago  of  a  brave  little  wife 
who  waited  through  the  weeks  on  her  sick  husband.  She 
would  be  awakened  by  the  clock  in  the  night,  to  get  up  and 
give  him  his  medicine.  At  last  she  was  worn  almost  to  des- 
peration, and  scarcely  knew  what  she  did,  as  she  got  up, 
hour  after  hour  to  give  him  the  medicine.  At  last,  the  hour 
came  when,  half-awake,  she  reached  up  for  the  vial  and 
poured  out  the  medicine,  and  put  it  to  his  mouth,  and  no 
sooner  had  he  swallowed  it  than  he  made  an  outcry  to  her: 
"Oh,  Mary,  dear,  you  have  killed  your  John!  You  have 
given  the  wrong  medicine."  And  then,  as  he  saw  her  agony, 
he  said:  "Oh,  I  know,  dear,  that  you  did  not  mean  to 
do  it,  but  this  is  all.  I  am  finished."  And  he  was  fin- 
ished, before  another  hour  had  passed. 

My  men  and  women,  I  am  pleading  to-night  iiot  sim- 
ply for  your  soul.  I  am  pleading  that  that  life,  that 
influence,  that  personality,  that  manhood,  that  woman- 
NX.  hood,  that  example,  that  self,  your  whole  earthly  lifetime — 
forty  or  sixty  or  seventy  years,  or  more  or  less — that  your 
all  shall  be  put  on  the  side  where  you  will  not  hurt  your 
fellow-men,  but  where  you  will  help  them  every  day. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  133 

But  I  have  still  another  argument  to  which  I  would 
summon  your  attention,  to  constrain  you  thereby  to  give 
up  your  neglect.  I  have  already  said  two  things.  I  have 
said  your  neglect  is  not  reasonable,  from  any  viewpoint, 
and  I  have  said  your  neglect  is  not  right — not  right  toward 
God,  nor  toward  yourself,  nor  toward  anybody  else.  I 
would  now  say,  from  my  deepest  heart,  this  other  word : 
Your  neglect  is  not  safe.  Oh,  my  heart  is  heavy  here — 
your  neglect  is  not  safe!  And  why  is  your  neglect  not 
safe?  I  have  already  said  that  you  cannot  live  like  life 
ought  to  be  lived,  if  you  live  it  neglecting  God.  It  is  im- 
possible. Life  is  maimed  and  crippled,  no  matter  whose 
the  life,  if  you  presume  to  live  it  without  God.  Your  neg- 
lect, therefore,  is  not  safe.  Moreover,  your  neglect  is  not  I 
safe  because  this  life  is  not  all.  Your  neglect  is  not  safe  \^ 
because  this  little  earthly  life  must  have  an  end.  Your  < 
neglect  is  not  safe  because  you  must  die.  Oh,  if  I  could 
say  that  so  that  you  would  believe  it!  YOU  must  die! 
You  MUST  die!  You  must  DIE!  Will  you  believe  it? 
And  will  you  address  yourself  to  proper  preparation  for 
that  solemn  event?  There  are  a  thousand  gates  to  death, 
and  the  easiest  thing  on  this  earth  is  for  death  to  snap  the 
cord  of  life  and  send  us  into  the  great  beyond. 

May  I  tell  you  the  saddest  memory  out  of  my  young 
manhood?  It  comes  to  me  now,  on  the  wings  of  recollec- 
tion. It  has  come  to  me  a  thousand  times.  I  had  just 
found  Christ,  as  I  was  turning  into  young  manhood.  I 
knew  very  little  about  Him.  About  all  that  I  knew  was 
that  I  had  decided  for  Him.  I  did  not  know  how  to  talk 
to  anybody  else.  The  earnest,  faithful  preacher,  genuine 
to  the  depths  of  his  heart,  sincere  as  the  sunlight,  true  as 
truth  itself,  as  every  preacher  ought  to  be,  spoke  to  the 
boys  in  the  school,  and  groups  of  them  made  their  decision 
for  Christ.  Next  to  the  last  night  of  the  meeting  had 
come.  I  sat  beside  my  desk-mate.  He  had  not  yet  decided 
for  Christ.  I  could  not  any  longer  be  silent,  and  so  I  bent 
over  beside  Jim  and  said :  "Ji^»  you  go.  All  is  at  stake, 
Jim.  You  make  your  surrender.  I  don't  know  how  to  talk 
to  you,  Jim,  only  I  would  have  you  go."  He  looked  earn- 
estly into  my  face  and  said :     "Let  me  off  to-night,  George, 


134  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

and  if  you  will  let  me  off  to-night,  I  promise  you  that,  if 
I  feel  like  this  to-morrow  night,  I  will  certainly  go.  Let 
me  off  for  to-night/'  I  said :  "Ji^»  yo^^  issue  is  not  with 
me,  nor  is  your  issue  with  that  preacher  who  is  preaching. 
Your  issue  is  with  Christ,  who  died  for  you.  He  has 
spoken  to  you.  He  has  made  you  serious.  He  calls  you. 
Make  your  surrender  to  Him,  and  make  it  now,  while  you 
can.''  He  put  his  face  down  in  his  hands,  and  was  moved 
with  deepest  emotion,  and  I  bent  over  him  again,  and  made 
a  second  effort.  I  said :  "Ji^^*  if  you  will  make  your  sur- 
render to  Christ,  and  go  down  the  aisle  to  that  minister, 
I  will  walk  with  you.  I  will  take  your  arm,  if  you  like, 
or  you  can  take  mine.  Won't  you  do  it  to-night?"  And 
then  resolutely  he  summoned  himself  and  looked  into  my 
face,  with  purpose  in  his  eye  and  in  his  words,  and  said: 
"Not  to-night.  If  I  feel  like  this  to-morrow  night,  I  will 
go,  but  I  will  not  go  to-night." 

Oh,  I  wish  I  could  leave  the  rest  untold,  but  the  story 
would  not  be  done.  When  the  next  night  came  he  was 
not  there.  The  next  day  in  school  he  was  not  there.  We 
asked  about  him,  but  nobody  seemed  to  know  where  he 
was.  And  then  the  meeting  ended,  and  the  second  day 
came,  and  the  school,  but  he  was  not  there.  Nobody  knew 
why.  And  the  third  day,  and  nobody  knew  why,  and  the 
fourth  day;  and  I  said:  "I  will  go  by  his  home  to  find 
out  why."  The  mother  met  me  at  the  door  and  said: 
"Why,  didn't  you  know?  He  came  home  from  the  meeting 
the  other  night,  and  before  the  night  was  gone,  he 
was  stricken  with  dreadful  pneumonia.  Oh,  he  is  sick, 
sir;  too  sick  to  see  you.  He  cannot  see  anybody  but  the 
doctor  and  the  nurse  and  his  mother  and  father."  I  went 
around  the  fifth  day,  and  he  was  worse.  I  went  around  the 
sixth  day,  and  the  mother's  eyes  were  red  from  weeping,  and 
she  said :  "We  have  little  hope,  sir."  I  went  around  the  sev- 
enth day,  and  I  said :  "Let  me  stay.  Maybe  T  have  not  done 
my  duty.  I  have  just  been  a  Christian  myself  a  few  weeks. 
Maybe  I  have  not  done  my  duty.  Let  me  stay  with  him. 
Maybe  he  will  know  me.  Let  me  be  near  him.  Maybe  he 
will  be  conscious  and  know  me."  She  let  m.e  stay,  and  the 
doctors  stayed,  and  the  nurse  stayed,  and  the  parents  stayed, 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLEGTi  135 

and  I  stayed.  Oh,  that  long  drawn  out  and  never  to  be  for- 
gotten night!  Midnight  came,  and  he  stirred  uneasily 
there  in  his  bed,  and  pulled  nervously  at  the  coverings 
that  wrapped  his  bed.  Then  he  began  to  talk,  and  we  all 
bent  our  ears  to  catch  what  he  said.  With  his  hoarse 
whispers,  and  staring  wildly,  this  is  what  he  said:  ''Not 
to-night,  George!  Let  me  off  to-night.  I  promise  if  you 
will  let  me  off  to-night  I  will  settle  this  to-morrow  night. 
I  will  settle  it  to-morrow  night,  if  you  will  let  me  off  to- 
night, but  not  to-night.  I  am  not  going  to-night.  I  am 
not  going  to-night,  and  you  needn't  talk  further.  I  will 
settle  it  to-morrow  night,  if  I  feel  like  this,  but  I  am  not 
going  to-night.'*  In  another  hour  or  two  the  spirit  took 
its  flight.  Oh,  the  tragedy,  the  tragedy,  of  a  man's  dying 
like  that!  My  brother  men,  I  tell  you,  men  ought  not  to 
die  like  that! 

What  is  the  issue  to  which  I  am  summoning  your  im- 
mediate and  best  consideration?  It  is  a  choice  between 
two  masters.  One  is  your  friend,  and  the  other  is  your 
foe.  Which  should  it  be?  It  is  a  choice  between  one  of 
two  lives.  One  is  a  life  of  ever-increasing  usefulness,  and 
the  other  is  a  life  of  ever-increasing  waste  and  hurt.  It 
is  a  choice  between  two  deaths,  the  one  unafraid  and  in 
peace,  and  the  other  without  preparation  and  without  God. 
It  is  a  choice  between  one  of  two  worlds  in  the  great 
beyond — the  world  of  peace  and  bliss  and  hope  and  life  j 
forever,  or  the  world  of  waste  and  loss  and  defeat  forever. 
Which  should  your  choice  be?  Oh,  I  beg  you  to  remem- 
ber, it  is  your  soul  that  is  at  stake,  and  it  is  your  soul  that 
I  am  pleading  for.  If,  as  I  came  to-night  to  the  tent,  I 
had  passed  on  the  outskirts  of  this  fair  city  some  little 
woman  driving  a  vegetable  wagon,  and  she  had  driven  it 
off  into  some  deep  ravine,  and  could  not  extricate  her  team 
there  in  the  deep  ditch  below,  if  I  had  come  and  stood  on 
this  platform  and  said:  "Out  yonder  at  a  certain  place 
a  little  helpless  woman,  selling  her  vegetables  to  support 
her  fatherless  children,  has  had  trouble  with  her  team,  and 
the  team  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  ditch,  and  she  cannot  get 
the  team  up ;"  and  if  I  had  said :  "Aren't  there  men  here 
who  will  hurry  to  that   little  woman,   and   give  her  re- 


136  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

lief?" — men,  chivalrous  and  many,  would  have  been  on 
their  feet  as  soon  as  I  had  stated  the  case.  And  yet  to- 
night I  am  talking  about  your  soul,  your  soul,  that  will 
soon  be  in  an  eternal  world — ^your  soul.  Give  it  a  chance ! 
Give  it  a  chance,  before  it  is  forever  too  late ! 

We  are  going  to  pray  in  a  moment,  but  before  we  pray 
I  would  ask:  Are  there  men  and  women  here  who  say: 
"Sir,  we  are  wrong  with  God  and  know  it  and  confess  it 
to-night,  and  wish  you  to  pray  for  us?''  In  the  church  or 
out,  once  in  the  church,  or  never,  once  professing  re- 
ligion and  drifting,  or  never  having  made  any  profession 
of  religion  at  all,  are  there  those  who  say :  "We  are  wrong 
with  God  to-night  and  know  it?  We  would  have  you  and 
these  men  and  women  who  pray,  to  pray  that  we  may  be 
right  with  God  before  it  is  too  late?"  Do  you  say:  "Yes, 
I  would  lift  my  hand  on  such  call  ?"  Quietly  and  without 
any  singing  now,  you  will  let  us  see,  by  your  uplifted 
hands,  if  you  are  interested,  if  God  has  spoken  to  you  to- 
night, if  you  wish  to  be  saved.  I  am  looking  now  and  see- 
ing, and  so  are  these  hundreds  of  Christians  around  you. 
Gladly  now  will  we  pray  for  you. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

We  make  our  appeal,  O  God,  to  thee.  Great  is  our  Joy  that  so  many  in  this 
place  are  for  Christ.  We  would  serve  Him  better  henceforth,  far  better,  than  we 
have  served  Him  heretofore.  But  now  we  join  in  one  prayer.  It  is  for  the  men 
and  women  about  us,  who  say  to  us:  "We  wish  you  to  pray  for  us,  that  we  may 
be  saved."  Lord,  as  best  we  can  we  bring  them  right  now  to  thee.  Oh,  teach  thou 
each  seeking  one  that  Christ  does  the  forgiving,  that  He  does  the  saving,  but  that 
the  soul  is  to  give  up  to  Him,  that  He  may  save  in  His  own  divine  and 
gracious  way.  Let  that  blessed  invitation,  when  thou  sayest:  "Him  that  cometh 
to  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out,"  now  take  deep  hold  of  every  one,  and  let  each 
one  say:  "I  will  not  wait^  I  will  not  presume,  I  will  not  del-ay,  I  will  not 
further  neglect  to  yield  myself  to  Christ."  Whatever  the  doubts,  _  whatever  the 
difficulties,  whatever  the  sins,  whatever  the  fears,  whatever  the  questions,  whatever 
the  temptations  in  the  life,  teach  thou  each  interested  soul,  O  Christ,  that  thou 
wilt  surely  forgive  and  save,  if  only  such  soul  will  surrender  to  Thee.  We  pray 
that  that  surrender  may  be  made  now,  because  now  is  God's  time,  the  wise  time, 
the  safe  time,  and  because  now  might  be  the  only  time.  Grant,  O  gracious  Lord, 
that  those  whom  thou  hast  called  to-night,  saying  "Come  unto  me,"  may  now  by 
thy  grace  be  given  to  say :  "We  will  come  to-day,  even  as  God  bids  us  come  to-day 
and  accept  Christ  as  our  Savior  forever."  We  pray  it  in  the  great  Master's  name. 
Amen. 

THE  EXHORTATION  CONTINUED. 

Now  we  are  going  to  sing  that  simple  invitation  hymn, 
two  or  three  stanzas  of  it.  No.  175: 

Why  do  you  wait,  dear  brother. 
Oh,  why  do  you  tarry  so  long? 

Before  we  sing,  I  have  a  question  to  ask.     Here  it  is: 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  NEGLECT  137 

Does  some  man  or  woman  or  child  here  to-night  say:  "I 
am  a  duty-neglecting,  backslidden  Christian,  but  God  help 
me,  I  am  definitely  resolved  right  now  to  end  such  neglect 
and  to  renew  my  vows  with  Christ?"  Come  forward,  then, 
before  all  the  people,  as  we  sing.  Do  you  say:  "That  is 
not  my  case,  but  it  is  this — my  case  is  that  I  am  not  and 
have  never  been  a  Christian  at  all.  But  to-night,  seeing 
my  need,  realizing  my  duty,  and  wishing  that  this  greatest 
question  of  all  shall  be  settled,  I  take  my  stand  for  Christ. 
I  yield  myself  to  Him,  that  He  may  save  me  as  He  wills. 
I  give  my  surrender  to  Christ.  I  have  given  it.  I  gave 
it  last  night,  or  before,  but  I  have  not  made  it  known,  or 
I  will  now  give  it  and  make  it  known.  Come  then  and  take 
my  hand,  as  we  wait  these  two  or  three  moments  and  sing 
this  simple  song.    Who  comes  as  we  sing  it? 

(Three  stanzas  were  sung,  during  which  several  men 
and  women  made  public  confession  of  Christ,  and  others 
came  as  backsliders  to  declare  the  renewal  of  their  vows 
with  Christ.) 

THE  BENEDICTION. 

And  now,  as  we  go,  our  Father,  deepen  thou  the  work  of  grace  in  our  every 
heart.  Deepen  it  by  the  searching  might  of  thy  truth,  applied  by  thy  Divine 
Spirit.  Deepen  it  hour  by  hour,  so  that  we,  all  and  each,  may  now  and 
always  give  heed  as  we  ought  to  the  highest  and  the  best,  even  to  thy  counsels 
and  calls.  Strengthen  thou  all  these  who  came  forward  to  confess  their  acceptance 
of  Christ  as  their  Savior  and  Lord.  Add  unto  the  company  many.  And  grant 
that  all  through  this  city,  during  the  days  just  before  us,  such  appeals  may  be 
made  by  the  friends  of  Christ  to  those  who  are  not  now  His  friends,  that  before 
many  days  shall  have  passed,  many  not  now  His  friends  may  be  gladly  singing 
with  us  the  praises  of  His  saving  grace.  Oh,  how  we  bless  thee  for  thy  saving 
grace !     Guide  thou  and  keep  all  these  who  put  their  trust  in  thee. 

A.nd  now  as  the  people  go,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  be  granted  you 
all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Amen, 


NOON  SERVICE,  June  16,  1917. 

THE  OPENING  PRAYER. 

Because  we  need  thee,  O  thou  gracious  Friend  Divine,  we  would  again  call 
upon  thee  for  thy  guidance  and  favor.  Without  any  hesitation  we  make  con- 
fession of  our  weaknesses,  of  our  faults,  of  our  sins  and  sinfulness,  of  our  ig- 
norance, of  the  many  limitations  that  are  upon  us,  and  we  plead  for  thy  strength, 
and  for  thy  forgiveness,  and  for  thy  righteousness.  O  thou  Divine  Savior,  speak 
to  us,  we  pray  thee,  at  this  midday  service,  life  by  life,  and  heart  by  heart.  May 
we  have  the  word  in  season,  each  one  of  us,  this  hour,  from  thyself.  Give  us, 
O  Father,  the  consolation  and  counsel  of  thy  Spirit.  Whatever  the  hurts  in  our 
poor  little  lives,  whatever  the  blunders,  whatever  the  sad  chapters,  whatever  our 
frailties,  whatever  our  sins,  whatever  our  needs,  whatever  eur  burdens,  whatever 
the  experiences  that  are  to  be  for  us  in  the  future,  certain  it  is  that  in  them 
all  we  need  a  help  above  ourselves,  and,  therefore,  do  we  make  our  appeal  to  God. 
Speak  to  us  this  marning,  O  Holy  Father,  and  may  we  hear  what  thou  wouldst 
speak,  and  may  we  lay  faithfully  to  heart  thine  own  truth,  and  may  we  follow 
gladly,  even  from  this  hour  forward,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whithersoever  He 
would  lead  us,  knowing  that  all  shall  be  v/ell,  now  and  forever,  for  those  who 
trust  and  follow  Him.  And  we  make  these  requests  in  the  blessed  Redeemer's 
name.      Amen. 

THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART. 

Text:  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled:  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in 
me."— John  14  :L 

If  you  were  asked  this  morning  to  name  the  most  com- 
forting passage  in  the  Bible,  what  would  you  say?  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  what  ^our  answer  would  be.  Many 
in  this  presence,  perhaps,  would  name  the  Twenty-third 
Psalm,  the  great  Shepherd  Psalm,  as  the  most  comfort- 
ing passage  in  the  Bible.  Others  would  mention  that  oft- 
quoted  verse  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans :  "We  know 
that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  His  purpose." 
But  probably  more  of  you  would  select  the  fourteenth 
chapter  of  John  as   the  most  comforting  passage   to   be 

188 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   139 

found  in  all  the  Bible.  Every  one  of  us  ought  to  know  that 
chapter  by  heart,  even  as  we  ought  to  know  many  other 
Scriptures  by  heart,  because  some  day  we  may  be  blind 
and  be  unable  to  read  at  all,  and  then  if  we  had  hidden 
away  in  our  hearts  many  Scriptures,  we  could  read  them 
even  though  our  sight  should  be  gone. 

Listen  to  the  opening  sentences  of  this  heavenly  chap- 
ter: 

Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled:  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me.  In 
my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions:  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you. 
I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will 
come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also. 
And  wiuther  I  go  ye  know,  and  the  way  ye  know.  Thomas  saith  unto  him.  Lord, 
we  know  not  whither  thou  goest ;  and  how  can  we  know  the  way?  Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life:  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father, 
but  by  me. 

Memorize  that  fourteenth  chapter  of  John's  gospel,  all 
of  it.     You  will  need  it. 

Probably  our  deepest  troubles  in  this  world  are  occa- 
sioned by  separation  from  our  loved  ones.  Jesus  had  just 
said  to  that  little  group  of  men  about  Him:  "I  am  going 
away.  Presently  we  are  to  be  separated.  I  am  going  to 
die."  And  the  announcement  stupefied  them,  dazed  them, 
horrified  them.  "Isn't  there  some  mistake?  He  has  just 
said  He  is  going  away,  and,  more.  He  has  just  said  that 
He  must  die.  Isn't  there  some  mistake?"  They  are  stupe- 
fied. They  are  horrified.  The  separations  from  our  loved 
ones  wring  our  hearts  to  the  deepest  depths. 

Just  a  few  days  ago,  I  was  called  to  say  some  words 
at  the  grave  of  a  dear,  faithful  mother,  and  the  grief  of 
her  children  was  so  terrible  that  it  seems  to  me  I  can  never 
forget  it.  The  oldest  daughter  did  her  best  to  quiet  and 
comfort  the  several  younger  children,  with  no  success,  and 
presently  «he  tried  a  new  turn  on  them.  She  went  up  and 
down  the  line  of  children,  all  bewildered  and  heart-broken, 
and  said:  *'Stop  your  crying,  children.  Maybe  it  is  all 
a  dream.  Maybe  we  are  all  at  home.  Maybe  we  are  in 
our  beds  asleep,  and  will  wake  up  in  the  morning  and 
find  it  is  just  a  bad  dream,  and  mother  will  be  with  us." 
And  for  a  moment  she  thus  quieted  them. 

Oh,  the  deep  wrenchings  of  heart  when  our  loved  ones 
go  away!  Jesus  had  just  spoken  some  words  that  pierced 
like  arrows  the  hearts  of  the  twelve  men,  when  He  told 


Jr 


140  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

them:  "I  am  going  away."  Then  He  proceeded  to  com- 
fort them,  to  point  them  to  the  way  of  light  and  life,  and 
then  it  was  He  spoke  this  fourteenth  chapter  of  John, 
Its  opening  sentence  is  the  text  for  this  morning:  "Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled." 

Jesus  proceeded  in  these  words  to  point  the  cure  for  a 
troubled  heart.  How  may  a  troubled  heart  be  cured?  That 
is  an  old  question.  It  is  as  old  as  the  human  heart.  How 
may  a  troubled  heart  be  cured?  It  is  the  question  of  all 
humanity,  of  all  the  ages,  of  all  conditions  and  classes: 
How  may  a  troubled  heart  be  cured  ? 

All  along  there  have  been  given  various  answers  to 
that  question.  There  is  the  answer  of  despair.  When 
trouble  came  upon  Job,  wave  upon  wave,  and  all  was  swept 
from  him — first  his  property,  and  later  his  children,  and 
later  his  health,  and  later  his  friends — finally  his  wife  said 
to  the  husband:  "Curse  God  and  die."  That  is  the  an- 
swer of  despair,  and  the  answer  of  despair  is  not  a  cure 
for  a  broken,  troubled  heart.  The  poor  suicide  takes  that 
course — the  course  of  despair. 

Different  causes  make  for  the  despair  of  the  human 
spirit.  Sometimes  it  is  business  reverses,  and  the  man's 
spirit  is  broken,  and  down  he  goes,  and  he  cannot  recover 
himself  any  more,  and  despair  grips  at  the  throat  of  his 
soul.  Sometimes  despair  is  occasioned  by  a  shattered  con- 
fidence. Oh,  how  terrible  a  thing  it  is  to  have  our  confi- 
dence in  somebody  fundamentally  shattered!  Sometimes 
one's  despair  comes  because  of  ill  health.  What  weakness 
men's  poor  spirits  feel  when  their  bodies  are  in  the  grip 
of  disease!  What  allowances  we  ought  to  make  for  those 
who  are  sick!  What  pity  and  patience  and  forbearance 
we  ought  to  exercise  towards  people  rackea  with  pain! 
Just  here  is  an  exhortation  every  one  of  us  should  earnestly 
heed. 

But  full  many  a  time  the  answer  of  despair  follows  the 
course  of  sin.  I  was  in  a  Southern  city  a  little  while  ago, 
speaking  for  a  half-dozen  days,  and  my  host  drove  me  by 
two  beautiful  residences — two  of  the  fairest  in  the  city— ^ 
and  told  me  that  in  one  home  had  been  a  mother  and  in 
the  other  had  been  a  father,  and  these  two,  because  of 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   141 

sin  which  had  made  itself  known,  and  was  making  itself 
known  throughout  the  city,  to  the  shame  of  both  homes, 
had  entered  into  a  death  pact,  that  they  would  each  at  a 
certain  hour  take  the  suicide's  course.  And  they  carried 
out  such  death  pact.  Oh,  how  terrible  is  the  course  of 
despair  for  a  human  heart  when  such  heart  has  grievously 
sinned ! 

There  is  another  answer  proposed  as  the  cure  for  a 
troubled  heart,  and  that  is  the  answer  of  stoicism.  And 
what  is  the  doctrine  of  the  stoic  ?  The  doctrine  of  the  stoic 
is,  to  steel  your  heart  against  all  feeling.  The  doctrine 
of  the  stoic  is  to  put  your  tears  all  away  and  refuse  to  cry. 
The  doctrine  of  the  stoic  is  to  deaden  your  feelings,  and 
make  your  heart  like  a  rock.  The  doctrine  of  the  stoic  is 
to  be  sublimely  indifferent,  no  matter  what  comes.  With 
rigid  face,  like  a  stone,  go  on,  steeled  against  it,  indifferent 
to  it,  with  your  heart  shutting  it  all  out.  That  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  stoic,  but  that  doctrine  won't  cure  a  broken 
heart. 

If  you  have  read  carefully  the  stories  of  Darwin  and 
Huxley,  those  world-famed  scientists,  you  will  find  the 
confession,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  life  of  both  those  notable 
men,  of  sorrow  that  they  had  so  steadfastly  steeled  their 
hearts  against  that  which  was  tender,  against  that  which 
was  gentle,  against  that  which  warms  the  heart,  against 
that  which  provokes  tears,  against  that  which  kindles  the 
flames  on  the  altars  of  emotion  and  sentiment  and  the  finer 
feelings.  Both  of  them  bewailed  the  fact  that  they  had 
pursued  that  course.  The  doctrine  of  the  stoic  is  not  the 
doctrine  to  cure  a  troubled  heart.  Sooner  or  later  the 
heart  will  find  it  out,  sometimes  in  the  gathering  shadows 
of  old  age. 

Then,  again,  Epicureanism  is  proposed  as  the  cure  for 
a  troubled  heart,  and  the  doctrine  of  Epicureanism  is: 
"Forget  all  your  trouble.  Plunge  into  the  realm  of  pleas- 
ure. Sound  all  the  depths  of  pleasure.  Go  the  whole 
gamut  of  pleasure.  Forget,  forget  all  your  troubles.  Leap 
out  into  the  deepest  depths  of  pleasure,  and  there  revel 
and  swim  in  those  depths,  and  put  out  of  your  sight  and 
out  of  your  mind  all  thought  of  sorrow.     Drown  it  all  in 


142  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  realm  of  pleasure."     But  that  won't  cure  a  broken 
heart. 

When  I  was  preaching  awhile  ago  in  another  community 
one  day  there  came  to  the  service  a  young  widow,  robed 
in  black,  and  the  minister  whispered  to  me:  "That  is  an 
unusually  sorrowful  case.  Her  husband  was  assassinated 
here  a  few  months  ago,  all  unexpectedly  and  wickedly, 
and  she  carries  a  broken  heart.  She  is  a  woman  of  culture 
and  of  a  n®ble  family,  and  much  appreciation  is  cherished 
for  her  here  in  this  city,  but  she  gropes  in  the  darkness  with 
her  broken  heart."  And  then  he  went  on  to  tell  me  that 
her  friends  took  her,  when  the  awful  tragedy  fell  and  smote 
her  heart  into  the  dust,  and  carried  her  away  to  Florida, 
in  that  midwinter  time,  and  they  said  to  her:  "We  will 
take  you  down  there  to  one  of  the  beautiful  hotels,  in  the 
midst  of  the  orange  groves.  We  will  take  you  there  where 
music  shall  be  heard,  and  where  all  that  is  gay  and  beau- 
tiful shall  echo  and  re-echo  in  your  ears,  and  you  will  forget 
all  this  sorrow  in  a  little  while.  Come  with  us  and  you 
will  forget  it  all."  And  the  poor,  bruised,  broken-hearted 
woman  went  with  them,  but  she  came  back  months  later 
with  that  same  broken  heart.  You  cannot  cure  the  heart 
in  any  such  fashion. 

There  has  been  proposeci  still  another  answer  as  a  cure 
for  a  troubled  heart,  and  that  is  the  answer  of  denial. 
There  is  a  fundamentally  false  philosophy  abroad  in  the 
land,  which  proposes  to  cure  a  broken  heart  by  denying 
that  there  is  any  brokenness  of  heart  —  that  there  is 
any  trouble  at  all.  Now,  that  busy,  noisy  and  funda- 
mentally false  philosophy  simply  denies  the  facts,  and 
proposes  to  get  past  the  difficulty  by  denying  the  facts. 
It  denies  the  fact  of  sorrow,  the  fact  of  suffering,  the  fact 
of  sin,  the  fact  of  death.  It  denies  them  all.  But  you 
cannot  cure  a  troubled  heart  b}^  simply  denying  that  there 
is  any  trouble.  The  facts  are  here.  All  about  us  is  the 
solemn  fact  of  sin,  and  the  fact  of  suffering,  and  the  fact 
of  tears,  and  the  fact  that  a  black  Friday  comes  ever  and 
anon,  and  the  fact  of  the  long  and  lonely  and  sleepless 
nights,  and  the  fact  of  bewilderrtient  and  confusion,  and 
the  fact  that  all  unexpectedly  we   are   again   and  again 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   143 

beaten  down  into  the  dust  by  the  flail  of  disappointment. 
yVe  cannot  cure  the  trouble  by  denying  the  facts. 

Where  can  we  g&t  our  trouble  cured?  Just  one  way, 
at  just  one  place,  from  just  one  source,  and  it  is  stated  for 
us  here  in  the  glorious  fourteenth  chapter  of  John:  "Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also 
in  me."  Jesus  here  states  the  cure  for  a  troubled  heart. 
Jesus  is  himself  the  physician  for  a  troubled  heart.  Nor 
is  there  any  other  anchorage  and  re-enforcement  and  heal- 
ing and  recovery  and  peace  sufficient  for  any  troubled 
heart,  if  you  reject  Jesus  and  put  His  counsel  and  comfort 
far  aside.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  No  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  "Put  your  case  in 
my  hands,"  says  Jesus.  "Come,  with  your  sorrows  and 
your  vexation  and  your  disappointment  and  your  surprise, 
and  your  reverses,  and  your  consuming  grief,  and  the  pain 
of  your  spirit  which  never  ceases ;  come  to  me,  and  I  will 
cure  your  troubled  heart,  and  I  will  unfailingly  re-enforce 
you,  if  you  will  come  to  me."  Christ  is  humanity's  cure 
for  a  troubled  heart. 

Have  you  a  troubled  heart?  Is  there  in  your  life  one 
experience  and  another  and  another,  every  thought  of 
which  brings  a  stab  to  your  heart,  or  the  deathly  pallor 
to  your  cheeks?  Have  you  a  troubled  heart?  No  matter 
what  the  occasion,  there  is  one  source  to  get  it  healed, 
and  that  source  is  Jesus.  He  is  the  one  mediator  between 
God  and  us.  He  is  the  daysman  unto  whom  we  may  come, 
and  unto  whom  we  may  confide  our  all,  without  any  hesi- 
tation or  reserve.    Christ  is  the  cure  for  a  troubled  heart. 

Now,  my  fellow-men,  why  should  you  and  I  thus  stake 
our  all  on  Christ?  If  you  ask  me  if  I  have,  I  answer  you 
modestly:  "I  have  staked  my  all  on  Christ."  Living  and 
dying,  and  in  God's  vast  beyond  forever,  God  help  me,  I 
can  do  no  other.  I  have  staked  my  all  on  Christ.  Now, 
why?  "Why  should  we  stake  our  all  on  Christ?  He  tells 
us:  "1  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  No  man  com- 
eth  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  Why  should  we  come 
to  the  Father  by  Christ?  Why  should  we  accept  Christ 
as  our  daysman,  our  umpire,  our  arbitrator,  our  mediator? 


144  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Why  should  we  take  Christ  as  our  physician,  our  leader, 
to  be  our  friend  supreme,  and  stake  our  all  upon  Him? 

First,  because  Christ  in  His  own  personality  is  entirely 
worthy.  Christ  has  vindicated  His  claims  to  our  absolute 
confidence.  Christ  in  Himself  attests  His  own  worthiness 
to  our  absolute  confidence.  Can  you  find  any  fault  in  any- 
thing which  Jesus  ever  said?  Pray,  tell  me  what  it  is. 
Did  there  ever  fall  from  His  lips  any  word  that  you  can 
gainsay  and  condemn?  You  can  condemn  the  sayings  of 
any  other  from  whose  lips  words  have  ever  fallen.  Can 
you  gainsay  any  word  that  ever  fell  from  those  gracious 
lips  ?  Can  you  gainsay  any  work  that  Jesus  ever  did  ?  Did 
He  do  anything  when  He  was  here  in  the  flesh,  and  in 
these  nineteen  centuries  since  He  went  back  to  His  Father 
has  He  done  anything  for  the  world  that  you  can  gainsay 
and  complain  of  and  condemn?  Is  there  anything  in  the 
person  of  Jesus,  in  the  character  of  Jesus,  in  the  life  of 
Jesus,  that  you  can  gainsay  and  condemn  and  set  aside? 
Jesus  in  His  own  personality  is  the  attestation,  the  au- 
thorization, the  corroboration,  the  demonstration  of  His 
claim  to  human  trust  and  human  confidence,  without  any 
hesitation  or  reserve.  Christ  in  His  own  personality  au- 
thenticates His  absolute  right  to  human  trust,  without  any 
reserve,  from  every  human  life. 

And,  more.  If  Jesus  shall  go  away,  and  we  shall  set 
aside  His  counsel  and  leading,  we  are  left  bewildered 
utterly  and  broken  in  the  world  in  which  we  live.  What 
that  sun  is  to  the  vast  physical  world  this  midday  hour, 
lighting  up  the  world's  darkness  everywhere,  Jesus  is  that, 
and  more,  in  our  world  of  morals,  in  the  needy  world  of 
humanity.  When  He  says  for  himself:  "I  am  the  light 
of  the  world,"  He  makes  no  pretentious  and  vainglorious 
claim.  Jesus  is  the  light  of  the  world.  Will  you  take  the 
world's  big  questions  and  answer  them?  You  are  utterly 
bewildered  and  in  the  darkness  if  you  take  Jesus  away,  and 
if  you  fail  to  take  His  answer.  Take  the  three  questions 
that  this  hour  most  baffle  and  perplex  poor  humanity,  and 
Jesus  gives  the  only  satisfying  answer  for  each  of  them  and 
all  three  of  them.  There  is  the  question  of  sin,  and  the 
question  of  sorrow,  and  the  question  of  death.    If  you  take 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   145 

Jesus  Christ  away  and  disregard  Him,  you  are  left  utterly 
bewildered  and  baffled  and  broken  in  the  presence  of  those 
blinding  and  burdensome  mysteries  —  sin,  sorrow  and 
death. 

What  will  you  do  about  sin,  if  Jesus  be  disregarded 
and  taken  away?  What  will  you  do  about  sin?  Oh,  my 
fellow-men,  the  one  tragedy  in  all  the  world  this  hour  is 
the  tragedy  of  sin.  The  one  unbearable  yoke  that  is  on 
humanity  everywhere  is  the  yoke  of  sin.  The  most  terrible 
and  obtruding  fact  this  Saturday  morning  in  all  the  world 
is  the  fact  of  sin.  Now,  what  will  you  and  I  do  with  the 
fact  of  sin,  if  Jesus  be  disregarded  and  taken  away?  No 
man  within  himself  has  moral  resources  sufficient  to  meet 
life  like  it  ought  to  be  met,  to  live  life  like  it  ought  to  be 
lived,  and  to  die  at  last  like  one  ought  to  die,  and  to  make 
personal  answer  to  God  as  each  must  make  such  answer 
in  the  after  world.  No  man  has  moral  resources  within 
himself  sufficient  to  overcome  and  be  the  master  of  sin. 
Jesus  comes  in,  the  great  physician,  saying:  "I  did  not 
come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners,  to  repentance.  If 
you  will  commit  yourself  to  me,  I  will  make  you  a  new 
man."    Jesus  alone  can  save  us  from  sin. 

Speaking  awhile  ago  in  one  of  our  larger  American 
cities,  one  day  friends  brought  to  the  service  where  I  was 
speaking  at  midday  to  the  busy  citizens,  an  ex-registrar 
of  one  of  America's  largest  universities.  He  had  gone  into 
the  depths  of  poverty  and  failure  and  shame  because  of 
drink.  Oh,  how  I  pitied  him,  and  how  my  heart  yearned 
after  him!  You  do  not  throw  stones  at  such  men,  do  you? 
That  is  not  the  way  to  win  them.  That  is  not  the  >vay 
to  win  anybody.  Oh,  go  down  to  them,  and  with  a  broth- 
er's hand,  and  a  brother's  heart,  and  a  brother's  pity,  and 
a  brother's  patience,  and  a  brother's  re-enforcement,  seek 
to  win  them,  not  by  driving,  but  by  the  winning  con- 
straints of  love.  So  they  brought  this  man  to  the  service, 
and  when  the  service  was  done  they  tarried  behind  in  a 
little  room,  and  I  was  introduced  to  him,  and  I  could  see 
in  a  moment  how  wretchedly  he  had  fallen,  and  though 
he  was  terribly  shattered  by  the  down-dragging  power  of 
drink,  I  could  see  yet  the  traces  of  the  strong  man  that 


146  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

he  bad  been,  and  glimpses  of  the  wonderful  man  that  he 
could  be.  There  we  sat  conversing,  and  he  said  to  me: 
"Sir,  I  seem  done  for.  I  seem  to  have  lost  the  battle.  I 
seem  unable  to  extricate  myself  from  the  dominant  passion 
of  drink  in  my  life."  Does  it  surprise  you  to  hear  that  he 
was  the  son  of  the  chief  justice  of  one  of  our  highest  courts 
in  one  of  our  American  states?  Superb  had  been  his  op- 
portunities. Quite  honorable  was  his  record  in  the  uni- 
versity from  which  he  had  been  graduated.  But  now  he 
had  fallen  to  the  depths.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  told  him 
at  last.  I  told  him  the  story  that  Henry  Drummond  tells, 
who  won  the  same  sort  of  a  man  once,  from  the  depths 
to  the  heights,  to  Christ  Jesus.  Drummond  was  resting  in 
a  quiet  home  in  the  hills  of  Scotland,  after  an  extended 
meeting  that  he  had  been  holding  in  one  of  the  Scotch  uni- 
versities. When  he  had  been  some  three  or  four  days  in 
the  quiet  of  that  home  in  the  hills,  he  said  to  his  host 
and  hostess:  "I  must  go  now  and  get  the  next  train  for 
my  next  engagement."  They  said:  "We  are  not  going 
with  you  to  the  station" —  a  journey  of  three  or  four  miles 
from  the  house — 'Ve  are  going  to  let  you  go  alone  with 
our  driver.  Drink  has  brought  our  driver  to  the  depths. 
He  is  an  unusual  scholar,"  they  told  Mr.  Drummond.  "He 
is  a  rare  gentleman,"  they  told  Mr.  Drummond,  "and  we 
are  going  to  leave  him  with  you.  He  is  in  the  clutches  of 
helplessness  because  of  drink,  so  he  tells  us.  He  is  in  the^ 
grip  of  despair  about  himself,  so  he  will  avow  to  you. 
Maybe  you  can  help  him,  and  so  we  will  leave  you  with 
him."  Drummond  climbed  out  of  the  carriage,  up  on  the 
seat  with  the  driver,  just  like  he  should  have  done,  and 
then,  in  his  own  winsome,  gentle,  gracious  way,  Drum- 
mond made  his  way  to  that  defeated  fellow's  conscience 
and  heart.  Presently  that  driver  was  confessing  his  weak- 
ness, and  failure,  and  lapse,  and  sin,  and  downfall,  and  de- 
feat, and  when  Drumm.ond  had  heard  it,  all  Drummond 
said  to  him  was  this:  "What  if  I,  who  drive  beside  you, 
were  the  finest  horseman  that  ever  drove  a  team  of  horses  ; 
what  if  I  could  control  the  wildest  span  of  horses  that  ever 
pulled  a  carriage,  no  matter  hov/  strong,  no  matter  how 
restive;   what  if  these  horses  driven  by  you  were  such  a 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   147 

span,  and  they  rushed  around  this  mountain  road,  and  you 
could  not  restrain  them,  you  could  not  control  them,  you 
were  helpless,  and  I  said  to  you:  'Man,  give  me  the  reins 
and  I  will  control  them,'  what  would  you  do?"  The  man 
saw  the  point  in  one  moment,  and  turning  to  his  new- 
found friend,  he  said:  "Oh,  Mr.  Drummond,  is  that  what 
Jesus  Christ  proposes  to  do  for  a  man  defeated  and  down? 
Does  He  just  wish  me  to  give  Him  the  reins  to  my  life?" 
"That  is  it,"  said  Drummond.  "Let  Christ  have  the  reins; 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet.  He  will  make  them  as 
white  as  snow.  Though  your  heart  and  its  weakness  be 
poured  out  like  water.  He  will  fortify  you  with  a  power 
which  is  above  men,  and  you  will  go  your  way,  clad  with 
a  strength  which  is  superhuman."  From  that  hour  that 
defeated  fellow  walked  in  the  conscious  strength  of  his 
Savior,  and  a  little  later  was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  chief 
places  of  trust  and  usefulness  in  all  fair  Scotland's  borders. 
Christ  was  his  deliverer  from  sin.  "Thou  shalt  call  His 
name  Jesus,  for  He  shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins." 

If  you  are  without  Jesus,  you  are  left  baffled  and  helpless 
in  the  presence  of  sorrow.  You  can  hear  the  undertone 
of  sorrow  everywhere.  You  can  feel  and  see  the  awful 
reign  of  sorrow  on  every  side.  The  other  day,  one  of  our 
young  carpenters  in  my  city  had  me  go  with  him  to  Oak- 
land, where  we  put  away  our  dead.  He  had  lived  just  a 
little  while  with  his  beautiful  wife,  and  they  had  recently 
brought  to  completion  a  lovely  little  home,  and  prospects 
like  some  rosy  morning  gleamed  before  them,  because  they 
were  well  and  industrious,  and  their  hearts  were  filled  with 
love  and  hope.  In  one  brief  night  she  sickened  and  died. 
He  said  to  me,  as  we  turned  away  from  the  freshly-made 
mound:  "Oh,  man,  I  had  just  got  ready  to  live,  and  all 
this  has  come!"  What  was  I  to  say  to  him?  What  would 
you  have  said  to  him.?  V/hat  should  I  say  to  you,  if  that 
were  your  position  this  morning,  and  I  stood  beside  you 
as  your  friend?  "There  is  one  who  can  turn  the  very 
shadow  of  death  into  morning.  There  is  one  who  can  take 
life's  tears  and  attune  them  to  the  sweetest  music,  and 
His  name  is  Jesus." 


148  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

At  another  time,  there  in  the  big  hospital,  a  dear  mother 
died,  and  I  was  with  the  husband  and  several  children. 
Oh,  the  grief  was  heart-breaking!  It  seems  always  to  be 
so  when  a  mother  dies.  And  then  that  little  oldest  one, 
twelve  years  old,  mothered  all  the  rest,  and  went  to  her 
utterly  broken-hearted  father,  and  put  her  arms  around 
him  and  said:  "Papa,  I  will  help  you.  Papa,  we  must 
do  better  than  this.  Papa,  you  and  I  love  Jesus.  Papa,  I 
will  help  you  take  care  of  these  children."  The  family 
was  taken  home,  and  the  next  morning  we  got  ready  for 
the  funeral,  and  that  little  twelve-year-old  girl,  the  most 
motherly  child  for  her  years  I  ever  saw,  mothered  all  those 
five  little  ones  through  it  all.  Then  we  went  to  Oakland, 
and  the  funeral  service  was  had,  and  the  kindly  men  came 
to  let  down  the  body  gently  into  the  grave,  and  I  felt 
somebody  pulling  at  my  coat.  I  looked,  and  there  was 
the  little  motherless  twelve-year-old  girl,  and  she  said  to 
me,  with  an  agony  that  would  break  your  heart:  "Oh, 
Mr.  Truett,  if  Jesus  loves  us,  how  could  He  have  allowed 
this?"  What  could  I  say?  I  said:  "Little  woman,  I  can- 
not explain  it,  but  let  me  tell  you,  my  child,  some  day 
Yvhen  you  get  to  the  Father's  House  above,  and  you  shall 
sit  down  by  Jesus,  He  will  explain  it  all  to  you,  and  when 
He  explains  it,  you  will  know  it  is  all  for  the  best,  for  He 
tells  you,  'What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt 
know  hereafter.' "  You  take  Jesus  away  and  we  are  help- 
less to  comfort  or  be  comforted  in  the  day  of  broken  hearts. 

There  is  one  more  mystery  to  baffle  you,  and  it  is  the 
chiefest  mystery  of  all.  What  shall  you  and  I  do  when 
we  walk  down  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  if 
Christ  be  taken  away?  Caesar  stood  up  in  the  Roman 
Senate  and  said:  "If  there  be  anything  beyond  death,  I 
do  not  know.  If  there  be  anything  beyond  the  grave,  I 
cannot  tell."  Jesus  went  down  into  the  grave  and  ex- 
plored its  every  chamber,  and  then  on  the  third  day  He 
came  back  from  the  grave  with  the  keys  of  death  and 
the  world  invisible  swinging  at  His  girdle,  and  He  says 
to  you  and  to  me:  "You  cleave  to  me,  and  you  need  not 
be  afraid  of  death  and  what  death  can  do  to  you."  The 
other  day  I  saw  a  man,  not  a  believer  in  Christ,  bid  his 


THE  CURE  FOR  A  TROUBLED  HEART   149 

little  curly-haired  girl  of  six  years  good-bye,  and  as  he 
kissed  her  little  face  and  fingered  the  curls  about  her 
ears  for  a  moment,  he  turned  away  with  seemingly  utter 
desperation,  saying:  "Good-bye,  little  tot,  forever!"  And 
then,  in  a  moment  more,  came  the  frail  little  mother,  and 
she  stroked  the  forehead  and  kissed  the  little  girl's  face 
again  and  again,  and  blessed  God  for  the  little  girl,  even 
though  for  only  a  few  years.  Life  was  richer  and  sweeter 
and  better  every  way  because  of  that  child,  she  kept  grate- 
fully declaring.  Then  she  kissed  her,  and  said :  "Good- 
bye, for  just  a  little  while,  little  tot.  Mother  will  see  you 
right  soon,  and  be  with  you  beyond  the  sunset  and  the 
night."    She  could  say  it  because  of  Jesus. 

Men  and  women,  Christ  is  the  Light  of  the  world.  Let 
us  follow  Him!  Oh,  let  us  follow  Him!  Let  us  follow 
to-day  and  forever !    Let  us  sing  with  the  poet : 

So,   T  go  on   not  knowing, 

I    would   not   know   if    I    might. 
I  would  rather  walk  with  Christ  in  the  dark 

Than    to    walk   alone   in   the    light. 
I   would  rather  walk  with   Him  by   faith 

Than  to  walk  by  myself  with  sight. 

Settle  it  now  as  we  pray  that  Christ  shall  be  your  light, 
your  Savior  and  Master,  from  this  hour  until  death,  and 
beyond  forever. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now.  Holy  Father,  as  the  busy  men  and  women  go,  may  every  one  be 
definitely  fixed  in  purpose:  "As  for  me,  Christ  shall  be  my  Savior  and  Master." 
All  about  us  are  weighty  questions.  It  is  not  easy  to  live,  and  the  journey  of 
the  earthly  life  is  soon  ended,  and  then  we  pass  into  a  land  that  shall  never  end. 
O  Jesus,  we  would  follow  thee  faithfully  all  the  days,  and  then  when  we  conve  to 
the  valley  of  the  shadow,  we  would  have  thee  with  us,  and  thy  rod  and  thy  staff 
to  comfort  us,  and  when  the  mists  from  off  the  sea  of  death  come  up  into  otir 
faces,  and  we  hear  the  echo  of  the  breakers  of  that  sea,  O  thou  loving  Savior,  be 
thou  the  Pilot  for  us  all,  and  bring  us  safely  to  the  Father's  house  above,  to  the 
home  of  many  mansions,  where  we  shall  be  with  Jesus,  and  be  like  Him  forever. 
How  we  blcps  thee  for  ansv/ering  prayer,  and  for  saving  souls,  and  for  keeping 
us  in  the  love  of  God! 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  go  with  you  to  be 
your  defense  and  inspiration,  now  and  forever.     Amen. 


XI 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  SUNDAY,  JUNE  17,  1917. 
PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

Just  one  design  is  in  my  mind  concerning  these  serv- 
ices, and  that  is  to  help  the  people,  if  and  as  I  may,  and  to 
glorify  the  matchless  name  of  Christ.  We  would  do  the 
people  good,  and  not  evil  at  all,  in  these  services,  and  to 
such  end,  we  ask  that  God's  people  shall  not  only  seek 
to  make  the  public  services  what  they  ought  to  be  by 
their  attendance,  and  by  bringing  others  here,  and  by 
prayer  for  the  preacher  and  for  the  people,  but  also  that 
they  will  seek,  personally,  all  through  this  fair  city,  every 
day  during  the  week,  and  in  every  way  that  they  can,  to 
help  the  people  religiously.  There  are  people  whom  you 
know,  to  whom  you  ought  to  talk  concerning  personal  re- 
ligion. There  are  drifting  Christians,  going  down  with 
the  currents,  and  they  need  your  earnest,  brotherly  en- 
treaty, that  they  may  stop  before  their  further  loss  and 
waste  of  happiness  and  usefulness.  And  there  are  people 
who  know  nothing  at  all,  experimentally,  of  the  forgiving 
grace  of  God  in  the  human  heart.  Jesus  came  to  save 
them,  and  you  and  I  need  now  to  speak  to  them  the  best 
we  can,  as  lovingly  as  we  can,  as  faithfully  as  we  can, 
that  we  may  help  them  now.  Very  grateful,  indeed,  is  the 
preacher  that  the  large  audiences,  these  several  evenings, 
have  co-operated  so  heartily.  We  have  had  well-nigh  per- 
fect order,  in  this  large  outdoor  meeting.    When  a  mother 

150 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  151 

needs  to  withdraw  with  the  child  that  frets  and  disturbs, 
or  if  some  one  is  ill  and  needs  to  withdraw,  by  just  a  little 
thoughtfulness  upon  the  part  of  those  going,  and  espe- 
cially upon  the  part  of  the  rest  of  us  who  tarry,  all  of  us 
making  it  a  point  not  to  be  diverted,  not  to  look  about — 
by  just  a  little  thoughtfulness  even  in  a  large  outdoor 
throng  like  this,  we  can  have  well-nigh  perfect  order. 

And  now  as  I  come  to  speak  to  you  for  the  evening,  I  «> 
should  like  to  direct  your  undivided  attention  to  the  text : 

THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD. 

Text:    "Who  hath  hardened  himself  against  Him,  and  hath  prospered?" — ^Job  9:4. 

That  is  a  question  from  the  book  of  Job,  in  the  ninth 
chapter.  If  you  shall  forget  all  else  that  I  say  this  Sab- 
bath evening,  I  pray  God  that  you  may  not  forget  this 
text.  Mark  it  again :  "Who  hath  hardened  himself  against 
Him,  and  hath  prospered?"  The  very  suggestion  in  the 
text  is  surprising,  startling,  even  amazing.  The  suggestion 
is  that  human  beings  may  harden  themselves  against  God, 
and  do  so  to  their  present  and  eternal  hurt.  The  very  sug- 
gestion, I  say,  is  exceedingly  startling.  "Who  hath  hard- 
ened himself  against  God?"  Against  God!  He  is  our 
Maker.  Can  there  be  any  wisdom  in  one's  hardening  him- 
self against  his  Maker?  Does  one  need  any  other  proof 
of  the  deadening  and  undoing  power  of  sin  than  that  sin 
could  come  into  a  human  life  and  harden  such  life  against 
its  Maker?  He  is  our  best  friend,  and  yet  men  and  women, 
through  the  power  of  sin,  through  its  deceitfulness,  are 
hardened  against  God,  their  best  friend. 

The  wonder  grows  when  we  remember  that  we  whose 
lives  are  utterly  contingent  on  God's  holy  will,  are  hard- 
ening ourselves  against  a  Being  of  infinite  power.  If 
God  should  v/ithdraw  His  moral  support  for  just  one  min- 
ute from  the  strongest  man  that  listens  now  to  my  voice, 
such  man,  sitting  or  standing,  would  gasp  and  in  one  mo- 
ment be  in  the  embrace  of  death.  And  yet  men  and  women 
harden  themselves  against  that  Being  of  infinite  power. 

He  is  a  Being  of  infinite  wisdom.  He  knows  us  alto- 
gether. There  is  not  a  secret  in  a  single  heart  in  all  this 
vast  throng  this   Sunday  night,   but   that   such   secret   is 


152  A^  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

thoroughly  known  to  the  omniscient  God.  Oh,  if  such 
fact  could  only  be  real  to  us  for  just  a  moment,  surely  it 
would  give  us  pause,  and  give  us  as  best  we  may  to  cease 
from  our  every  evil  way. 

In  the  war  of  the  60's,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  South- 
ern armies  was  taken  a  prisoner,  and  kept  for  quite  awhile 
in  a  federal  prison.  In  his  memoirs  he  recounts  his  prison 
experiences.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  guarded  day  and 
night,  and  that  he  could  not  look  up,  neither  to  the  right, 
nor  to  the  left,  night  or  day,  but  that  eyes  were  watching 
his  every  movement.  He  tells  us  that  if  he  started  in  his 
dreams  and  was  rudely  awakened  from  his  sleep,  standing 
over  him  and  watching  him  were  eyes  that  never  ceased 
to  observe  his  every  movement.  He  tells  us  that  of  all 
the  experiences,  torturing  and  terrible,  through  which  he 
passed  in  that  fearful,  fratricidal  war,  that  one  experience 
of  eyes  watching  him  all  the  time  was  the  most  torturing 
experience  of  all. 

Oh,  my  brother  men,  if  the  truth  could  only  come  home 
to  us  properly,  this  very  hour,  that  God  sees  us  and  knows 
us  altogether,  and  that  for  everything  in  our  life,  whether 
public  or  secret,  He  will  bring  us  into  judgment  at  last, 
what  a  difference  such  fact  would  make  in  our  conduct 
before  Him! 

And  how  the  wonder  grows  yet  more,  when  we  remem- 
ber that  men  and  women  harden  their  hearts  against  a 
Being  of  infinite  goodness!  I  could  understand  how  men 
would  make  a  straight  fight  with  Satan,  seeking  to  resist 
him  and  put  his  devices  all  away,  when  they  remember 
that  Satan  is  man's  persistent  and  never-ceasing  enemy, 
and  that  Satan  means  mischief,  and  mischief  only,  and  not 
good  at  all  to  any  and  every  human  being.  When  men 
and  women  find  out  the  awful  power  of  Satan  to  hurt  a 
human  life,  for  to-day  and  for  to-morrow  and  for  the  eter- 
nal beyond,  I  could  understand  how  men  and  women  would 
rise  up  with  a  fixed  resolve,  and  say:  "Satan  shall  not 
have  our  service.  He  shall  not  have  our  allegiance.  He 
shall  not  have  us.  We  will  break  with  him  and  put  him 
away.''  And  yet,  wonder  of  wonders,  men  do  not  break 
like  that  with  Satan,  but  men  break  with  God,  that  Being 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  153 

of  infimte  goodness.  He  holds  our  lives  in  the  hollow  of 
His  hand.  Every  mercy  that  comes  to  us  in  life,  from 
the  largest  down  to  the  very  smallest,  He  is  its  giver  and 
sender.  He  means  good,  and  good  only,  and  not  evil  at 
all,  to  us  every  one.  Oh,  how  can  men  and  women  harden 
themselves  against  a  Being  like  that,  infinite  in  kindness 
and  patience  and  goodness  and  forbearance  toward  us? 

That  is,  indeed,  a  pathetic  picture  in  the  earthly  life  of 
Jesus.  One  day  He  had  preached  to  the  people  His  won- 
drous words  of  light  and  hope  and  wisdom  and  love,  and 
as  the  day  wore  towards  evening,  they  gnashed  upon  Him 
in  their  rage,  and  they  took  up  stones  wherewith  to  stone 
Him,  and  Jesus  turned  to  the  crowd  that  sought  to  stone 
Him,  and  spoke  to  them  these  plaintive  words:  "Many 
good  works  have  I  shewed  you  from  my  Father ;  for  which 
of  these  works  do  ye  stone  me?"  That  is  to  say:  "Do 
you  stone  me  because  I  am  telling  you  the  right  way  to 
live?  Do  you  stone  me  because  I  am  counselling  you  to 
break  with  every  wrong  thing,  because  wrong  brings 
nothing  but  hurt,  and  cannot  do  good  at  all?  Do  you 
stone  me  because  I  point  the  way  of  hope  and  love  and 
life  to  people  groping  in  the  dark?  Do  you  stone  me  be- 
cause I  speak  the  words  of  cheer  to  people  downhearted 
and  fearful?  Do  you  stone  me  because  I  open  the  gates 
of  promise  and  of  hope  to  people  who  need  a  constant  and 
all-helpful  friend?  For  which  of  the  works  that  I  have 
done  do  you  stone  me?"  That  is  the  question  that  the 
Master  asks  to-night  of  this  vast  concourse  of  people,  as- 
sembled in  Fort  Worth.  "Oh,  man  or  woman,  not  on 
my  side,  but  on  Satan's  side,  what  have  I  done  that  pro- 
vokes you  to  be  against  me,  your  best  friend  ?"  What  does 
your  heart  answer  to  such  question? 

How  do  people  harden  themselves  against  God?  The 
ways  are  many.  I  may  indicate  just  a  few  of  those  ways 
that  are  commonest,  and  you  will  think  of  others  that  I 
may  not,  because  of  the  limits  of  this  hour,  mention  at 
all.  How  do  men  harden  themselves  against  God?  Full 
many  a  time  do  they  do  so,  because  of  the  power  of  sin 
that  strengthens  in  the  life  the  longer  that  such  sin  is  in- 
dulged.   Human  life  is  not  stationary.    Men  go  up  or  down. 


154  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Men  are  constantly  climbing  or  descending  in  human  life. 
Therefore,  God's  admonition  is  given  that  people  shall  be 
saved  while  they  are  yet  young:  ^'Remember  now  thy 
Creator,  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  while  the  evil  days  come 
not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh,  when  thou  shalt  say,  I  have 
no  pleasure  in  them."  The  longer  that  sin  is  indulged, 
the  mightier,  the  more  strengthful,  the  more  binding  does 
it  become  in  a  human  life.  You  may  take  any  sin,  no 
matter  what,  and  the  longer  that  sin  is  given  rein  and  al- 
lowed to  run  riot  like  it  wishes,  the  more  that  sin  grows 
and  strengthens.  Take  the  sin  of  drink,  and  I  do  not  men- 
tion that  because  I  think  it  is  the  worst.  Heaven  knows 
that  it  is  bad  enough,  and  yet  there  may  be  other  sins  far 
worse.  But  take  the  sin  of  drink,  for  illustration.  Do  I 
speak  to  some  man  here  who  drinks,  perhaps  to  excess? 
Let  him  not  be  afraid  that  I  shall  speak  one  cruel  word 
concerning  him.  I  shall  not.  The  rather  would  I  come 
to  him,  and  stretch  out  to  him  a  brother's  hand,  and  say 
to  him:  "May  I  not  help  you?"  I  would  help  him  if  I 
could.  But  do  I  speak  to  some  man  here  who  drinks  to 
excess?  Let  him  retrace  his  past  days,  even  back  to  the 
first  day  when  he  began  that  ill-fated  habit.  He  was 
probably  well-reared.  He  was  warned  against  the  subtle 
power  of  the  habit  of  drink.  A  dear  mother,  when  he  went 
away,  pressed  her  kisses  through  her  tears  upon  his  face, 
and  besought  him  to  steer  clear  of  that  undoing  habit — 
drink.  And  other  voices,  father's  and  teacher's,  and  still 
other  voices,  warned  him  against  the  deadly  peril  that 
there  is  in  the  habit  of  drink.  Doesn't  he  recall  it  all? 
And  then  there  came  a  time  when  he  was  away  from  home, 
and  when  he  was  urged  to  take  his  first  drink.  He  re- 
members even  now,  as  I  speak  of  it,  how  his  hand  trembled 
as  he  put  that  cup  to  his  lips,  and  he  thrust  his  eye  to  the 
right  and  to  the  left,  if  haply  some  face  out  of  the  past 
would  come  forth  to  forbid  his  taking  that  ill-fated  step. 
And  then  he  had  taken  his  first  drink.  Oh,  that  was  thei 
beginning  of  the  down-dragging  of  his  life!  The  first 
drink  is  the  drink  that  makes  the  'drunkard — not  the  last. 
And  the  years  came  on  and  the  habit  strengthened.  Do 
I  speak  to  such  one  here  to-night? 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  155 

There  came  to  my  home,  a  little  while  ago,  one  of  our 
citizens  for  whom  I  have  long  felt  the  deepest  religious 
interest.    It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  my  door- 
bell rang,  and  when  I  answered,  I  said  to  the  man:    "What 
on  earth  brings  you  here  at  this  hour  of  the  night?"     He 
came  into  the  hall  at  my  invitation,  and  said:     "You  can 
see,  can't  you?"     And  I  could  see.     I  did  see.     He  was 
then  in  the  clutches  of  drink.     His  fearful  habit  had  its 
terrible  hold  upon  him  at  that  same  hour.     Then  he  said 
to  me:    'T  have  come  because  I  want  to  hold  your  hands, 
and  get  down  at  your  knees,  and  have  you  swear  me  in 
the  sight  of  God  that  I  will  break  such  habit,  for  I  must 
break  it  ere  it  shall  utterly  break  me."    Then  he  said:    "I 
have  just  come  from  home.     I  went  home  a  little  while 
ago,  late  in  the  night,  and  my  little  wife  had  one  talk  with 
me  that  broke  my  heart,  and  breaks  it  when  I  call  it  to 
mind.     She  said  to  me:     'Husband,  you  have  broken  my 
heart.    If  you  do  not  desist  soon,  I  shall  be  gone,  for  I  am 
completely  crushed,  even  in  health,  by  your  course.'    And 
while  she  was  talking,"  he  said,  '*my  old  mother  heard 
us,  and  came  from  her  room  across  the  hall,  frail  and  aged, 
and   put  her  arms  about  my  shoulders,   and   sobbed  her 
broken  heart  out  on  my  neck,  and  said:     'Son,  if  you  do 
not  quit  soon,  mother  will  go  to  her  grave  believing  that 
her  son  is  doomed  for  a  drunkard's  death.'    And  no  sooner 
had  she  talked  like  that  than  my  little  daughter  came,  in 
the  grip  of  typhoid  fever,  where  she  had  been  for  weeks 
unable  to  sit  up,  and  yet  she  had  heard  the  conversation, 
and  was  so  moved  that  the  child,  just  beginning  her  teens, 
somehow  got  to  me,  ere  I  knew  it,  and  was  clutching  at 
my  coat,  a  little  skeleton  from  her  sickness,  and  she  said: 
Tapa,  you  are  breaking  the  hearts  of  us  all,  and  killing  us 
all.     If  you  do  not  quit  soon,  we  will  all  be  dead."   And 
the  big  fellow  sobbed  aloud  and  said:     "1  cannot  quit.     I 
am  helpless.    I  am  so  driven  and  beaten  and  weak,  I  can- 
not quit."     Now,  sin  does  that.    You  let  it  loose,  you  give 
it  the  reins,  and  it  will  vitiate,  it  will  pull  down,  and  it 
will  deaden  and  destroy.     I  repeat  again,  I  do  not  name 
that  sin  because  I  think  it  is  the  worst.    There  are  others, 
perhaps  more  deadly,  more  undoing  than  that.    I  take  that 


156  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

to  illustrate  the  point  that  the  longer  sin  is  indulged,  the 
more  terrible  does  it  become  in  its  power  to  deaden  and 
harden  the  heart. 

How  do  men  and  women  harden  themselves  against 
God?  Full  many  a  time  they  do  it  through  the  power  of 
public  opinion.  The  longer  I  live  and  study  men  and 
women,  and  see  their  conduct,  the  more  am  I  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  that  solemn  saying  in  the  Bible:  "The  fear 
of  man  bringeth  a  snare."  Oh,  what  power  there  is  in 
public  opinion !  One  waits  for  another.  One  acts  because 
of  another.  One  is  silent  because  another  is  silent.  Just 
there  comes  in  the  awful  peril  and  power  of  influence.  The 
man  who  does  not  care  about  his  influence  over  somebody 
else  surely  must  be  a  fool  or  a  monster,  or  both.  We  must 
be  forever  careful  about  our  influence  over  others,  for  by 
our  silent  influence,  day  in  and  out,  we  are  taking  people 
up  v/ith  us  or  we  are  taking  them  down.  We  are  making 
it  easier  or  making  it  harder  every  day  we  live  for  other 
people  to  live,  as  is  our  influence  over  them.  You  do  not 
wonder  that  when  George  Whitfield  was  converted,  he 
prayed  as  his  first  prayer:  "Oh,  God,  forgive  me  for  my 
wasted  influence  over  other  people!"  George  Whitfield 
had  been  a  ring-leader  in  sin.  He  had  led  many  people 
astray,  but  when  he  had  found  Christ  for  himself,  he  fell 
down  before  Him  and  cried  out:  "Oh,  God,  forgive  me 
for  my  misused  influence  over  other  men!"  Surely,  he 
could  not  have  prayed  a  saner  prayer  than  that.  And  you 
do  not  wonder  that  still  another  man,  a  little  while  ago, 
when  they  told  him  that  he  was  dying,  that  his  last  hour 
had  come,  gathered  the  covering  about  him  and  sought  to 
hide  his  face,  and  said  to  the  people,  out  of  the  pitiable- 
ness  of  his  condition :  "Yes,  and  when  I  am  gone,  as  the 
doctor  says  I  soon  shall  be,  be  certain  to  gather  up  my  in- 
fluence and  bury  it  in  the  grave  with  me."  But  that  is  the 
very  thing  that  cannot  be  done.  Your  influence  is  going 
on  now,  and  will  go  on  and  on,  when  you  shall  sleep  be- 
neath the  flowers.  Oh,  the  power  of  influence!  That 
ought  to  give  pause  to  every  serious  man  and  woman  in 
the  world. 

I  would  rather  be  nailed  up  in  my  coffin,  strong  and 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  157 

well  as  I  am  this  Sunday  night,  and  buried  alive,  than  to 
live  a  life  that  would  damn  somebody  else.  Human  influ- 
ence is  that  serious  and  that  terrible. 

I  was  preaching  in  a  series  of  meetings  in  one  of  our 
cities  some  time  ago,  and  I  noticed  a  young  fellow,  for 
three  of  four  consecutive  evenings,  far  down  the  hall  be- 
fore me,  a  lad,  I  should  say,  of  some  sixteen  years.  When 
I  asked:  "Are  there  people  to-night  interested  in  being 
saved?  Will  they  lift  the  hand  or  stand?"  This  lad  for 
three  or  four  evenings  made  response  without  any  delay. 
Then  another  evening  came,  and  there  he  was,  but  he  made 
no  response,  and  indeed  seemed  indifferent.  Then  the 
next  meeting  came,  and  I  looked  for  him,  and  I  found  him 
at  last,  but  far  to  the  rear  of  the  hall — evidently  indifferent, 
deliberately  indifferent.  I  could  read  it  in  his  face.  And 
when  the  service  was  concluded  that  night  I  hurried 
around,  if  haply  I  might  find  the  young  fellow,  to  have  a 
word  with  him,  and  fortunately  I  found  him,  and  took  him 
aside,  so  that  I  could  have  a  word  alone.  I  said  to  him: 
"I  have  seen  you  in  the  audience,  and  my  heart  has  been 
strangely  drawn  to  you.  For  two  or  three  evenings,  you 
indicated  that  you  wished  to  be  a  Christian,  and  now  for 
these  past  two  evenings  you  have  said  by  your  face  and 
conduct  that  you  are  indifferent  to  such  matter.  Pray 
tell  me  what  has  happened."  Then  he  looked  up  into 
my  face,  and  plaintively  said:  "I  think  I  had  rather  not 
tell  you.  I  was  interested,"  he  went  on  to  say.  "I  was 
deeply  concerned  by  what  you  said.  I  did  tell  you  that  I 
desired  to  be  a  Christian,  and  I  meant  it,  but  I  have  reached 
a  different  conclusion.  I  think  I  had  rather  not  tell  you 
why."  I  said :  "My  lad,  I  should  not  like  to  take  any  advan- 
tage of  you  at  all.  I  would  not  for  my  right  arm  wittingly 
take  an  advantage  of  any  man  or  woman  who  comes  to 
hear  me  preach.  I  would  not  like  to  be  impertinent,  but 
I  should  like  to  know  what  has  come  to  turn  you  away 
from  facing  that  open  gate  to  the  heavenly  world  and  to 
the  better  life.  Something  has  come.  I  should  like  to 
know  what  it  is,  that  T  may  help  you."  Then  he  said: 
"Very  well,  I  will  tell  you.  My  father  is  Dr.  So-and-so. 
My  father  never  goes  to  church.    I  never  knew  of  his  being 


158  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

at  church  in  all  my  life.  I  have  decided  to  follow  my  father, 
and  not  follow  you  at  all.  My  father  is  to  me  the  most 
splendid  man  in  the  world" — ^just  what  a  boy  ought  to 
think  about  his  father,  if  possible.  "My  father,''  said  the 
boy,  "is  my  model  man.  He  is  the  cleverest  man  I  know, 
and  the  strongest  man  I  know,  and  I  have  made  my  choice, 
and  I  am  going  to  follow  my  father,  and  I  am  not  going 
to  follow  you.  Father  says  by  his  example  that  the  Chris- 
tian religion  is  not  worth  while.  I  am  going  to  say  it,  too, 
as  long  as  my  father  says  it.  That  has  changed  my  course," 
said  the  handsome  lad. 

Oh,  wasn't  it  pitiable,  even  heart-breaking?  I  said  some 
other  things  to  him,  and  among  them  I  said:  "Come  on 
to  the  services,  and  I  will  do  my  best  to  help  you  yet, 
and  I  will  do  my  best  to  help  your  honored  father,  and  I 
want  to  think  about  it  through  the  night."  My  sleep  was 
troubled,  the  whole  night  through,  about  that  unusual  case, 
but  when  the  morning  came  my  mind  was  made  up:  "I 
shall  go  to  see  the  father  and  introduce  myself  to  him,  and 
cast  myself  upon  God  for  wisdom  to  have  some  words 
with  that  father,  about  what  is  involved."  And  when  the 
morning  came  I  made  my  way  to  his  office,  and  fortunately 
found  him  alone.  I  was  the  first  to  arrive.  When  I  in- 
troduced myself  to  him  and  found  that  he  was  the  man  I 
was  seeking,  he  turned  upon  me  with  beaming,  searching 
face,  and  said:  "Certainly,  you  have  not  come  for  your- 
self. You  are  evidently  not  a  sick  man."  I  said :  "I  have 
not  come  for  myself  at  all.  I  have  come  to  have  a  word 
with  you  about  your  own  boy."  And  then  he  was  all 
alert  in  his  attention,  and  he  said:  "Do  you  know  my 
boy?"  I  said:  "Slightly."  Then  he  said:  "Isn't  he  a  fine 
boy?"  I  said:  "I  should  say  that  I  never  saw  a  finer  one. 
My  heart  is  drawn  out  to  him  profoundly,  and  I  have  come 
just  to  have  a  frank  word  with  you  about  your  boy."  He 
said:  "In  what  way?  To  what  end?"  Then  I  said:  "I 
am  preaching  for  a  few  days  in  your  city."  "Oh,"  he  said, 
"I  see.  I  have  noticed  something  of  it  in  the  daily  papers." 
I  said:  "Your  boy  has  been  hearing  me,  Doctor,  for  sev- 
eral nights,  and  your  boy  seem.ed  deeply  serious  for  three 
or  four  nights,  and  indicated  his  seriousness,  and  then  he 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  159 

deliberately  put  such  matter  away.  His  deliberate  purpose 
was  written  in  his  very  face  and  voiced  in  his  conduct, 
and  I  sought  him  out  last  night  and  had  a  word  with  him. 
He  was  exceedingly  reticent,  and  he  was  grandly  loyal 
to  3^ou,  but  when  I  asked  him  why  he  had  deliberately 
determined  to  turn  away  from  the  call  of  Christ  and  the 
Christian  religion,  he  made  answer  that  you,  his  father, 
were  his  model,  his  beau  ideal,  his  pattern,  and  he  had 
decided  to  follow  you,  and  not  follow  me,  nor  follow 
anybody  else.  I  have  come  just  to  tell  you  that,  and 
to  ask  if  you  do  not  have  too  much  involved  to  let  the 
matter  stand  like  it  is?"  His  face  was  colorless  almost  in 
a  moment,  and  then  he  walked  the  room  under  terrific 
pressure  for  another  moment,  and  then  he  turned  to  me 
and  said :  *'That  is  the  heaviest  blow,  sir,  I  ever  received." 
And  then  I  said  to  him:  ''Doctor,  what  do  you  think  you 
ought  to  say  about  it?"  He  waited  a  moment,  and  said: 
"When  is  your  next  service?"  I  said:  "At  ten  o'clock, 
this  morning."  He  said:  "I  cannot  go  at  ten,  because  of 
an  engagement  for  a  needed  operation  at  the  hospital. 
When  is  your  next  service?"  "This  evening,  at  eight 
o'clock."  Then  he  looked  at  me  with  strength  of  purpose, 
and  said:  "I  will  be  in  your  service  to-night,  and  I  will 
give  this  matter  immediate  attention.  I  think  I  know 
what  to  do,  sir.  I  will  see  you  to-night."  I  bade  him 
good-morning  without  another  word.  I  had  said  all  I 
ought  to  have  said,  it  seemed,  on  that  first  visit.  The  day 
wore  to  nightfall,  and  I  stood  up  to  preach,  and  my  eyes 
searched  the  press  of  people  everywhere.  Is  that  father 
present?  Yonder  he  is.  He  is  just  coming  in  now,  and 
the  usher  is  giving  him  a  chair,  far  to  the  rear.  That  even- 
ing I  preached  to  one  man.  Oh,  if  we  can  get  him,  we  are 
likely  to  get  his  fine  boy,  and  we  may  get  many  because 
of  the  two!  When  I  had  finished  my  sermon,  I  simply 
raised  this  question:  "Is  the  man  here  who,  on  high  prin- 
ciple, for  his  own  sake  first,  and  then  for  the  sake  of  some- 
body sheltering  behind  him,  will  now  and  here  take  his 
step  Christward,  and  give  his  heart's  surrender  to  the  call 
of  Christ?  Is  he  here?  Let  him  come  down  the  aisle  and 
take  mv  hand  in  token  of  such  surrender  to  Christ."    And 


160  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  father  was  on  his  feet,  and  down  the  aisle  he  came, 
and  there  went  through  the  audience  something  like  an 
electric  thrill,  for  everybody  there  seemed  to  know  him  and 
profoundly  respect  him.  Now  he  had  reached  me  here  at 
the  front,  and  he  took  my  hand  ,and  the  first  word  he  said 
was :  "My  boy  got  me.  What  you  told  me  about  my  boy 
this  morning  got  me."  And  then  he  went  on  and  said: 
"When  you  left  me,  I  shut  the  door  and  locked  it,  and  I 
knelt  down  in  my  room  and  I  tried  to  pray,  as  I  have  not 
done  in  years,  and  I  said :  "Oh,  God,  forgive  me,  for  not 
only  am  I  staying  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God  myself,  but 
I  am  keeping  my  own  boy  out.  Has  it  come  to  that?  For- 
give me,  and  not  another  hour  will  I  wait  to  make  my 
surrender,  to  turn  my  case  over  to  Christ,  the  Great  Physi- 
cian, that  He  may  forgive  me  and  save  me  His  own  way." 
I  said  to  him:  "Look,  Doctor,  behind  you!"  And  there, 
standing  behind  him,  following  him  down  the  long  aisle, 
was  that  handsome  boy,  and  the  boy  put  his  arm  around 
his  father's  neck,  as  a  little  child  fondles  its  mother,  and, 
sobbing,  said :  "Oh,  papa,  I  am  glad  you  came,  and  I  have 
come,  too.    I  wanted  to  come,  and  I  waited  for  you." 

What  if  that  father  had  not  come  ?  God  save  the  mark  I 
I  know  fathers  who  have  not  come,  and  the  boys  have  not 
come,  either,  and  now  and  then  I  know  a  mother  —  oh, 
can  it  be?  A  mother!  Sweetest  name  of  all,  next  to  the 
name  of  Jesus!  A  mother!  A  mother! — now  and  then  I 
know  a  mother  who  does  not  come,  and  her  best  friend, 
Jesus,  is  set  aside.  By  the  power  of  her  influence,  how- 
ever silent,  she  says  to  the  children  of  her  own  being: 
"This  great  matter  of  personal  religion  is  not  great  at  all !'' 

Oh,  influence,  how  many  thou  art  destroying!  How 
many  thou  art  turning  away  from  God !  If  I  am  speaking 
to-night  to  parents,  father  or  mother,  who  are  not  Chris- 
tians; if  I  speak  to-night  to  citizens,  whoever  they  may 
be,  not  Christians;  if  I  speak  to-night  to  young  men  or 
middle-aged,  or  to  one  with  the  gray  about  his  temples, 
not  Christians,  oh,  my  friends,  my  friends,  my  friends,  I 
send  my  voice  out  after  you,  do  not  misuse  your  influence, 
and  cause  it  to  hurt  with  eternal  hurt  the  lives  of  people 
around  you! 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  161 

How  do  people  harden  themselves  against  God?  Full 
many  a  time  they  do  it  by  raising  captious  doubts  and 
speculative  questions  about  religion.  They  do  it  by  asking 
questions  about  religion,  and  asking  them  superficially, 
and  then  not  staying  to  answer  them.  They  say,  for  ex- 
ample, What  if  this  be  not  so?  And  then  they  do  not 
delve  into  the  matter,  to  probe  it  to  see  if  it  is  so.  They 
say,  What  if  there  be  no  God?  They  say,  What  if  Jesus 
Christ  be  not  trustworthy?  They  say,  What  if  the  Bible 
be  not  God's  guide-book  for  men,  to  lead  them  homeward 
and  heavenward?  They  say,  What  if  there  be  no  heaven 
for  the  people  who  will  not  have  Jesus?  They  say,  What 
if  these  much  talked  of  matters  be  not  so  at  all  ?  And  then, 
like  an  ostrich,  they  hide  their  heads  down  in  the  sand,  and 
they  do  not  see,  and  will  not  face  the  facts.  I  wonder  if 
I  speak  to-night  to  some  skeptic,  no  matter  how  dark  and 
deep  his  skepticism;  to  some  doubter,  to  some  disbeliever, 
concerning  the  things  of  Christ's  holy  religion?  If  I  do, 
I  call  to  him  as  his  brother  man,  oh,  my  friend,  you  can 
know  the  facts  about  Christianity — ^you  can  know  the  facts. 
If  a  man  be  a  doubter,  a  skeptic,  an  atheist,  a  materialist, 
an  agnostic,  who  flings  all  religious  belief  to  the  winds — 
if  his  case  be  that  darksome  and  that  terrible,  I  come  to 
him  to-night  to  say  that  he  can  get  light  and  will  get  it, 
if  he  will  just  be  candid  with  God.  Professor  Bushnell  got 
it — that  famous  teacher  in  Yale.  In  the  days  when  he  was 
a  most  popular  teacher  there,  and  also  an  outstanding  dis- 
believer concerning  religion,  a  young  preacher  went  to 
Yale,  to  preach  two  weeks.  For  days  and  days  there  seemed 
to  be  no  response  to  his  preaching.  The  young  fellows 
heard  him,  but  there  was  no  response  heavenward,  so  far 
as  the  minister  could  tell.  A  little  later  he  had  diagnosed 
the  situation.  The  young  men  were  hiding  behind  Pro- 
fessor Bushnell,  the  most  popular  teacher  in  Yale,  and 
the  minister  sought  out  Professor  Bushnell  and  said: 
"Professor  Bushnell,  if  these  things  that  I  am  preaching 
are  so,  wouldn't  you  like  to  know  it?  If  Christ  be  praise- 
worthy, wouldn't  you  like  to  know  it?  If  Christ  does 
change  men  who  trust  Him,  and  forgive  them,  and  put  a 
power  super-human   in   their  lives,   wouldn't  you  like  to 


162  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

know  it?"  And  Bushnell,  after  a  thoughtful  pause,  said: 
''Certainly,  I  would  like  to  know  it,  if  the  thing  be  reliable 
and  praiseworthy."  Then  said  the  minister:  "You  can 
know  it,  if  you  will  just  be  candid."  "How?"  said  Pro- 
fessor Bushnell.  "Take  Christ's  own  challenge,"  said  the 
minister,  "and  here  is  that  challenge :  If  any  man  willeth 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  wheth- 
er it  is  of  God.' "  "But,"  said  Bushnell,  "I  do  not  know 
how  to  start.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  God  at  all. 
How  could  I  start?"  Said  the  minister:  "Start  like  this: 
'Oh,  God,  if  there  be  such  a  Being,  give  me  light  on  this 
matter  of  religion.  If  thou  hast  any  interest  in  my  getting 
light,  and  if  thou  wilt  give  me  light,  no  matter  how  it 
comes,  I  will  follow  such  light  wherever  it  leads!'  Take 
that  clue,  and  you  will  find  God."  Professor  Bushnell  said : 
"I  will  take  it."  Three  days  afterwards,  Bushnell  came 
back  and  stood  on  the  rostrum  of  the  old  chapel  and  said 
to  his  students:  "My  men,  I  have  a  wonderful  thing  to 
tell  you.  I  laughed  to  scorn  all  that  this  man  preached, 
and  all  the  rest  of  them,  and  the  churches.  I  have  found 
out  that  I  was  in  the  darkness  and  they  were  in  the  light. 
Oh,"  said  Bushnell  to  his  students,  "I  have  put  God  to  the 
test,  and  I  know  that  He  is  the  Savior,  and  I  am  henceforth 
His  disciple  and  friend  forever." 

Men  can  know,  my  fellow-men,  whether  Christ  and  His 
gospel  are  true.  I  see  this  challenge  of  Jesus  put  to  the 
test  and  gloriously  found  out,  week  after  week.  It  was 
my  privilege  a  few  weeks  ago  to  speak  for  five  days  to  the 
students  of  our  State  University  at  Austin — a  really  great 
university,  which  should  have  the  loyal  support  of  every 
citizen  in  our  State.  While  there,  I  was  not  only  speaking 
publicly — I  was  dealing  privately  with  those  scores  and 
hundreds  of  young  men  and  women.  There  sought  me 
out  one  day  one  of  the  seniors  in  the  law  class,  and  he 
said  to  me:  "All  that  you  are  preaching  and  all  that  re- 
ligion proclaims  is  as  dark  to  me  as  the  darkest  midnight." 
I  said  to  him :  "If  there  be  reality  and  truth  in  the  religion 
of  Christ,  wouldn't  you  like  to  know  it?"  He  said:  "In- 
deed, I  would.  I  would  like  to  know  the  truth,  whatever 
it  is."    Then  I  said:    "I  will  give  you  a  clue.    Tell  God, 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  163 

if  there  be  one,  that  you  want  light,  if  He  has  any  concern 
for  you  to  have  it,  and  tell  Him  that  if  He  will  give  it, 
no  matter  what  it  costs,  nor  where  it  leads,  you  will  follo\^ 
that  light,  and  you  will  find  it/'  It  was  not  long  until  he 
came  back  from  his  quest,  his  face  shining  like  the  morn- 
ing, with  this  public  confession :  "I  have  found  out  in  my 
heart  that  God  is,  and  what  is  better,  I  have  found  out 
that  God  has  forgiven  me  and  saved  me."  Yes,  yes,  men 
can  find  the  way  of  light  if  they  will  only  be  candid.  If 
you  are  in  trouble  about  questions  religious,  come  with 
absolute  candor,  and  say:  "Lord  God,  here  I  am,  an  eter- 
nity-bound being,  and  I  want  light  from  God,  in  God's  way, 
and  if  He  will  give  it,  I  will  walk  in  it,"  and  you  will  get 
light. 

How  do  people  harden  themselves  against  God?  They 
do  it  through  the  theory  that  they  will  save  themselves. 
The  thought  of  their  own  self-salvation  leads  many,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  to  harden  their  hearts.  And  what  shall  I  say 
at  that  point?  Can  any  man  save  himself?  Can  any  woman 
save  herself?  Can  a  soul  wrong  with  God  save  himself? 
Such  soul  can  cross  the  storm-swept  ocean  from  one  shore 
to  the  other  on  a  straw  for  a  boat  as  easily  as  you  can 
save  yourself  without  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God.  Oh, 
soul,  if  a  sinner  could  have  saved  himself,  then  Jesus,  the 
Son  of  God,  would  not  have  come  down  from  heaven  and 
died  on  a  cross,  the  most  horrible  death  that  earth  hath 
ever  known.  If  a  sinner  could  have  saved  himself,  that 
cross  is  a  work  of  supererogation,  that  cross  is  a  mistake 
and  a  crime.  Because  sinners  cannot  save  themselves, 
therefore  did  Jesus  come.  And  when  He  comes  He  tells 
us :  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  No  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  He  tells  us:  "Marvel  not 
that  I  tell  you,  unless  you  are  born  again,  you  cannot  even 
see  the  kingdom  of  God."  He  tells  us:  "Except  you  re- 
pent, you  shall  all  likewise  perish."  He  tells  us:  "Neither 
is  there  salvation  in  any  other:  for  there  is  none  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must 
be  saved."  Oh,  soul,  never,  never,  can  you  save  yourself! 
Do  not  be  hardened  in  heart  at  that  vital  point. 

How  do  men  and  women  harden  themselves  against 


164  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

God  ?  Full  many  a  time  they  do  it  on  this  wise :  They  do 
it  by  looking  around  them,  and  pointing  their  finger  at 
alleged  poor  Christians  and  hypocrites,  that  they  can  find 
all  about  them,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  and 
in  that  way  they  harden  themselves  against  God.  And 
what  shall  I  say  at  that  point?  Are  these  who  are  unbe- 
lievers able  to  put  their  finger  down  on  poor  Christians 
all  about  them?  Are  these  who  are  unbelievers  able  to 
put  their  finger  down  now  and  then  on  some  hypocrite  in 
the  church?  Are  they  able  to  do  it?  God  pity  us,  yes,  they 
are!  And  are  there  poor  Christians  in  the  churches,  and 
is  there  now  and  then  some  pretender  in  the  churches? 
God  save  the  mark,  yes,  yes!  But  what  of  that?  Oh, 
come  now,  I  pray  you,  be  consistent.  Will  you  throw  all 
the  money  away,  because  there  are  counterfeiters  in  the 
land  molding  false  money?  Will  you  throw  the  good 
money  away,  because  counterfeit  money  is  sometimes  in 
circulation?  Come  now,  will  you  throw  all  the  fruit  away 
because  you  discover  some  decaying  fruit  there  in  the 
basket  or  the  barrel  of  fruit  that  you  purchase?  Pass  it 
on  up  higher.  Come  now,  will  you  fling  your  soul  out 
into  the  night  which  will  never  have  any  morning,  because 
somebody  around  you  is  not  living  the  Christian  life  like 
that  Christian  life  ought  to  be  lived?  I  call  your  attention 
yet  a  moment  more  to  this  serious  point.  God  calls  your 
attention  to  it  in  this  solemn  language.  Listen  to  Him. 
I  quote  it  now:  "Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  oh,  man, 
whosoever  thou  art  that  judgest:  for  wherein  thou  judgest 
another,  thou  condemnest  thyself."  Are  you  able  to  put 
your  finger  down  on  some  faulty,  defective  Christian,  or 
some  arrant  pretender?  What  of  that?  Jesus  looks  down 
upon  you  and  says:  "After  I  died  for  you,  and  offer  to 
save  you  with  mine  everlasting  salvation,  will  you  discard 
me  and  destroy  yourself,  because  somebody  around  you 
does  not  live  up  to  the  proper  standard  of  the  Christian 
life?"    Oh,  soul,  be  done  with  such  trifling! 

How  do  people  harden  themselves  against  God?  Most 
of  all,  I  think,  just  at  this  point,  namely,  at  the  point  of 
procrastination.  They  tell  us  truly  that  procrastination  is 
the  thief  of  time.     Ah,  me !  it  is  so  much  worse  than  that. 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  165 

Procrastination  is  the  thief  of  human  souls.  Procrastination 
steals  human  souls  away  from  hope  and  life  and  eternal 
peace.  All  about  us  there  are  men  and  women  wrong  with 
God,  and  when  they  are  approached,  they  will  confess  it; 
they  will  grant  their  duty  and  their  need;  they  will  ex- 
press their  desire;  they  will  confess  frankly  that  they 
desire  to  be  saved ;  they  will  tell  you  promptly :  "I  mean 
some  day,  and  not  far  oif,  to  give  my  soul  its  proper  atten- 
tion." But  they  drift  with  the  tide,  and  through  the  power 
of  procrastination  not  only  is  time  stolen,  but  their  souls 
are  stolen,  and  thus  are  they  finally  lost.  Oh,  the  tragedy 
of  it — the  tragedy  unspeakable  of  such  procrastination ! 

When  that  ill-fated  ship  went  down  long  years  ago, 
the  Royal  Charter — a  ship  in  its  time  corresponding  to  the 
Titanic,  that  was  wrecked  a  little  while  ago  in  mid-ocean — 
when  the  Royal  Charter  was  burned,  that  strong  ship  had 
toured  the  waters  of  the  world,  and  had  on  board  a  dis- 
tinguished company  of  passengers,  and  they  were  to  land 
finally  on  their  return  voyage  at  Liverpool,  and  great  prep- 
arations were  being  made  in  Liverpool  to  welcome  them 
home.  Many  of  the  passengers  were  Liverpool  citizens, 
and  homes  were  being  put  in  order,  and,  indeed,  the  whole 
city  was  being  put  in  order  to  welcome  the  returning  and 
cherished  passengers.  And  yet  on  that  last  night,  just  a 
few  hours  before  they  reached  Liverpool,  the  ship  caught 
fire,  and  despite  all  the  efforts  to  save  it,  the  ship  sank  to 
the  depths  of  the  sea,  nearly  all  of  the  passengers  drowning 
with  the  sinking  ship.  Only  a  few  escaped  to  tell  the 
terrible  story.  The  morning  came,  and  all  Liverpool  was 
agog  with  interest  to  welcome  the  people,  not  knowing 
of  the  sinking  of  the  ship,  and  then  the  few  survivors  came 
ashore,  and  told  the  awful  story  to  the  people.  Then  the 
story  had  to  be  carried  to  the  homes  in  Liverpool.  Dr. 
W.  M.  Taylor,  one  of  the  first  ministers  of  his  generation, 
tells  us  that  he  was  commissioned  to  carry  the  story  of 
the  sinking  ship  to  one  of  his  families,  and  to  tell  the 
little  wife  that  her  devoted  husband  and  the  father  of  her 
children  would  come  back  to  his  earthly  home  never  again. 
The  minister  said  he  went  on  such  journey  with  his  heart 
in  his  throat,  and  when  he  reached  the  home  and  rang  the 


166  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

bell,  a  little  flaxen-haired  girl  came  and  welcomed  him 
laughingly,  and  merrily  said:  "Dr.  Taylor,  papa  is  to  be 
h-ere,  and  mamma  is  getting  him  a  fine  breakfast,  and  you 
will  stay,  and  I  will  run  and  tell  mamma/'  And  she 
scampered  away  to  tell  her  mother,  and  then  the  mother 
came  in  and  gladly  bade  him  welcome,  and  said:  "Oh, 
you  have  come  at  the  right  time !  Husband  is  to  be  here 
in  a  few  minutes."  And  then  she  started  back.  She  said: 
"What  on  earth  is  it.  Dr.  Taylor?  What  has  happened? 
Do  not  keep  me  in  suspense.  Why  do  you  look  like  you 
look?"  And  he  took  her  hand  in  his  and  said:  "Little 
woman,  I  am  the  bearer  of  evil  tidings.  The  ship  has  gone 
down,  just  a  little  distance  from  the  shore,  down  to  the 
depths  of  the  sea,  and  your  husband  is  drowned  there 
with  the  rest."  She  looked  at  him  a  moment,  he  said,  and 
her  face  turned  pale  with  the  whiteness  almost  of  the 
snow,  and  rigid  like  a  stone,  and  then  she  uttered  one 
piercing  cry  and  fell  unconscious  at  his  feet.  This  was 
her  cry:  "Oh,  God,  he  got  so  near  home,  and  yet  will 
never  come!" 

That  is  the  parable,  and  that  is  the  picture  of  men  and 
women  in  this  gospel  land  of  ours,  who  hear,  and  who  feel, 
and  who  know,  and  yet  who,  through  procrastination,  will 
miss  the  upward  way.  Oh,  soul,  do  not  longer  procrasti- 
nate! Do  not  longer  delay,  with  this  eternally  important 
matter  of  your  personal  salvation. 

I  have  a  moment  more  to  ask  your  attention  before  we 
shall  go,  and  you  will  give  it  the  best  attention  you  can, 
despite  the  passing,  ringing  fire  bells — a  moment  more, 
and  you  will  give  your  earnest  attention,  for  the  text  is 
not  quite  done.  What  shall  I  say?  Listen  to  the  text 
again:  "Who  hath  hardened  himself  against  God,  and 
hath  ever  prospered?"  Do  you  know  one  who  hath  hard- 
ened himself  against  God  and  hath  ever  prospered?  Do 
you  know  one?  Oh,  that  word  "prosperity"  is  a  charmed 
word!  That  word  "prosperity"  is  a  hypnotic  word.  For 
prosperity  men  rise  early  and  toil  late.  For  prosperity  men 
sail  the  rolling  seas,  men  tunnel  the  mountains,  men  seek 
to  m.ake  every  sort  of  discovery,  in  order  that  they  may  win 
prosperity.    What  is  prosperity?    What  a  charmed  word 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  167 

it  is!  There  can  be  no  real  and  abiding  prosperity  if  we 
set  ourselves  to  neglect  God  and  His  proffered  salvation 
of  our  needy  souls.  ''Who  hath  hardened  himself  against 
God,  and  hath  ever  prospered?"  Do  you  know  one?  Do 
you  know  one  who  hath  set  himself  against  God  and  stayed 
so  set,  and  yet  has  really  prospered?  Do  you  know  one? 
Did  Cain  prosper,  who  took  his  brother's  life?  See  him 
as  he  went  a  pariah  into  the  forests!  Did  King  Saul  of 
old  prosper?  Did  Balaam  prosper?  Did  Ananias  and 
Sapphira  prosper?  Did  Judas,  who  sold  Jesus  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver?  Do  you  know  one  of  your  acquaintances 
who  has  hardened  himself  utterly  against  God,  and  has 
really  prospered? 

Let  me  tell  you  how  one  of  the  chiefest  business  men 
of  the  West  died  a  little  while  ago.  He  had  his  son  to 
sit  beside  him,  and  said  to  the  rest:  "I  have  some  words 
with  my  son,"  and  holding  that  son's  hand  in  his  own 
frail,  dying  hand,  he  said  to  his  son:  "Son,  you  are  hold- 
ing the  hand  of  the  greatest  failure  of  any  man  of  the 
West."  And  the  son  said:  "No,  no,  father;  your  name  on 
the  wires  would  make  the  business  world  quiver  through- 
out the  great  West."  He  said:  "Very  true,  my  son,  but 
I  have  lived  as  though  time  and  the  world  were  all,  and 
I  am  dying  now  with  unpreparedness,  and  all  is  dark.  I 
am  the  greatest  failure  of  all,  for  I  have  lived  simply  for 
earth  and  for  time." 

One  of  the  best  known  citizens  of  Texas,  who  gave  his 
heart  to  Christ  when  he  was  nearly  eighty  years  old,  said 
to  me  the  last  time  I  saw  him,  just  before  his  departure — 
and  his  name  is  a  household  word  in  Texas:  "Oh,  sir, 
my  life  was  almost  totally  lost.  I  did  not  come  to  Christ 
till  right  in  the  fag  end  of  life.  I  did  not  come  until  the 
sun  was  going  down  in  the  west.  Yes,"  he  said  "Christ 
has  saved  me,  but,  oh,  to  think,  sir,  that  I  have  given 
nearly  all  my  life  to  the  wrong  side !"  Doesn't  the  picture 
make  your  heart  shudder? 

What  is  the  conclusion  o'f  this  whole  matter?  I  sum  it 
up  in  some  final  sentences.  There  can  be  no  real  and  abid- 
ing prosperity  for  a  human  soul  that  is  set  against  God,  no 
matter  how  much  he  claims,  no  matter  how  wide  his  swath 


168  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

of  power  may  seem  to  be,  no  matter  who  he  is.  There 
can  be  no  real  and  abiding  prosperity,  if  the  human  heart 
be  set  with  disobedience  against  God.  At  last  it  comes 
down  to  ashes,  and  it  cries  with  one  of  old:  "My  soul 
feedeth  on  ashes."  And  mark  you  this,  my  men  and  wom- 
en ;  mark  you  this :  When  the  battle  of  the  soul  is  finally 
lost,  all  is  lost.  There  are  some  battles  that  can  be  re- 
gained, but  not  the  battle  of  the  soul  finally  lost.  There- 
fore Jesus'  arresting  question:  "What  shall  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul?"  Some  losses  have  compensations,  but  the  loss  final 
of  the  soul  has  no  compensation.  When  Francis  the  First 
lost  the  battle  of  Pavia,  he  got  his  broken,  scattered  men 
together,  and  sobbed  like  a  child  with  them,  and  said: 
"Men,  we  have  lost  all  but  honor;"  but  having  honor  left, 
they  could  go  to  the  battle  again.  Some  losses  have  com- 
pensations, but  not  the  final  loss  of  the  soul.  Some  losses 
can  be  repaired,  but  not  this  loss.  If  you  shall  take  your 
way  down  into  death  and  into  eternity,  without  making  a 
surrender  true  and  honest  to  Christ,  the  battle  is  lost. 
Christ  himself  so  tells  us:  "Ye  shall  die  in  your  sins: 
whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come." 

^  What  arguments  shall  I  marshal  this  night  to  summon 
this^  audience  to  give  the  right  attention  to  the  call  of 
Christ  for  the  salvation  of  the  human  soul?  What  argu- 
ments shall  I  marshal?  Shall  I  talk  about  duty?  Here 
is  your  first  duty—to  see  after  the  safety  and  welfare  of 
your  soul.  Shall  I  talk  about  need?  He  is  your  chief  est 
need.  More  than  you  need  money  and  position  and  friends 
and  health,  and  even  physical  life,  do  you  need  to  be  a 
Christian.  Shall  I  talk  about  influence?  Your  position 
for  Christ  shall  help  others  upward,  and  your  position 
against  Him  shall  take  others  downward.  Shall  I  talk 
about  happiness?  Here  is  your  supreme  happiness.  Shall 
I  talk  about  usefulness?  Oh,  what  can  compare  with 
living  a  life  so  as  to  be  useful  in  the  broadest  and  deepest 
and  most  constructive  way? 

Oh,  my  friends,  my  friends,  harden  not  your  hearts 
against  Christ !  Before  I  let  you  -to  away  very  soon  I  am 
coming  now  to  ask:     Has  this  vast  audience  made  peace 


THE  PERIL  OF  RESISTING  GOD  169 

with  Christ?  Have  the  men  and  women  before  me,  who 
have  heard  with  such  patience  and  attention  to-night,  for 
which  I  thank  you  so  gratefully,  made  their  peace  with 
God?  Are  the  men  and  women  under  the  sound  of  my 
voice  at  peace  with  God,  through  Christ? 

Now  this  night,  before  you  sleep,  even  here  and  now, 
as  you  stand  to  manifest  your  desire  to  be  saved,  as  the 
Lord  liveth,  if  you  will  honestly  surrender  your  case  to 
Christ,  you  shall  here  and  now  be  born  again.  No  matter 
what  your  fears,  your  sins,  your  weaknesses,  your  doubts, 
your  temptations — no  matter  what  was  your  yesterday, 
no  matter  what  your  to-day,  no  matter  what  shall  be  your 
to-morrow,  you  shall  be  saved,  forgiven,  born  again,  as  the 
Lord  liveth,  if  you  will  honestly  surnender  your  case  to 
Christ.  End  once  and  forever  the  great  matter  by  your 
personal  acceptance  of  Christ  as  your  Savior,  just  now, 
while  we  pray. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  O  Lord,  ere  the  crowd  disperses,  we  would  gather  up  every  life, 
and  as  best  we  can  present  it  to  God,  and  pray  Him  in  Christ's  name  to  put  His 
hand  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  and  salvation  on  every  needy  life  in  this  vast 
throng.  Here,  all  about  us,  are  men  and  women  who  say  to  us:  "We  are  wrong 
with  God  and  know  it,  and  we  wish  to  be  right  with  Him."  O  God,  teach  them 
now  that  it  is  Christ  who  makes  the  case  right.  Teach  them  that  no  man  can 
work  the  great  change  which  a  sinner  in  God's  sight  must  have,  in  order  to  meet 
God  in  safety  and  peace.  Teach  them  now  that  salvation  is  of  the  Lord-  Grant 
that  now  all  these  interested  men  and  women  may  turn  to  Christ,  and  before 
they  put  their  heads  upon  their  pillows  to  sleep  to-night,  say  simply:  "Here,  Lord, 
we  give  ourselves  to  thee,  'tis  all  that  we  can  do."  Thank  God,  it  is  all  Christ 
asks,  but  He  asks  that.  He  asks  for  honest,  absolute  surrender.  May  every  seek- 
ing soul  answer  Him  back:  "Then  I  give  it.  With  my  doubts  and  fears  and 
sins  and  difficulties  all,  I  will  surrender  to  Him.  Living  or  dying,  no  matter 
what  may  come,  I  will  surrender  my  case  forever  to  Christ,  the  appointed 
righteousness  and  Savior  for  needy,  helpless  sinners."  Lord,  let  these  men  and 
women,  a  multitude  about  us,  thus  surrender  to  thee  to-night.  And  if  in  this 
presence  there  were  those  too  hesitant  and  timid  to  express  their  desire  to  be 
saved,  but  whose  hearts  do  wish  to  be  right  with  God,  O,  draw  them,  too,  and 
save  them,  too.  And  if  in  this  presence  there  is  one  man  or  woman  or  child  in- 
different to  Christ's  call,  indifferent  to  Christ's  death,  indifferent  to  the  inevitable 
day  of  personal  death,  indifferent  to  human  influence,  indifferent  to  the  testing 
that  is  coming  at  God's  iudgment  bar,  indifferent  to  the  life  to  be  lived  here  and 
to  the  death  that  shall  follow  such  life,  indifferent  to  eternity— O,  our  Father,  if 
there  be  one  to-night  in  the  great  press  about  us  who  is  indifferent  to  these  high 
calls  of  heaven  and  of  God,  by  the  power  of  thy  Spirit  teach  and  lead  such  one 
to-night  to  be  profoundlv  concerned  to  find  the  true  way  to  live  and  to  serve 
God.  And  may  this  mighty  throng  be  bound  as  one  life  about  the  heart  of  God, 
so  that  it  shall  be  well  with  every  one,  living,  dying,  and  beyond  forever.  Deepen 
this  work  in  all  our  hearts.  Time  flies.  Sin  is  Idusv,  and  death  works  all  about 
us.  Remind  us  profoundly,  O  Lord  God,  that  to-day  is  the  day  of  salvation,  that 
to-day  is  the  day  of  grace,  that  to-dav  is  the  day  of  spiritual  opportunity.  God 
give  us  to  seize  to-day,  and  to  use  it  like  we  ought,  to  use  it  even  while  we  can. 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  may  the  blessing  of  God,  even  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit,  be  granted  you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.    Amen. 


XII 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  18,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

My  heart  has  been  warmed  and  cheered  from  day  to  day, 
by  the  large  number  of  busy  men  and  women  who  have  felt 
inclined  to  come  to  this  midday  service.  It  is  deeply  signifi- 
cant that  such  throngs  have  it  in  their  hearts  to  come  to  this 
noonday  meeting.  I  would  daily  propose  to  the  Christian 
men  and  women  before  me  that  we  give  ourselves  unstintedly 
to  helping  the  people  religiously,  throughout  all  the  week  before 
us.  I  pray  you  to  forget  it  not  that  there  can  be  no  substitutes 
for  personal  work  in  behalf  of  people  who  need  God.  I  pray" 
you  to  remember  it,  that  all  about  us  are  men  and  women  who 
are  drifting  away  from  the  right,  because  of  the  lack  of  the 
right  kind  of  personal  appeal  from  the  friends  of  God.  The 
highest  title  that  Jesus  gives  His  people  is  the  title  of  "Friend." 
I  am  speaking  to  many  friends  of  God  at  this  Monday  meeting. 
O  ye  friends  of  God,  do  your  best  to  win  other  friends  for 
Him  these  passing  days !  Bring  them  to  the  midday  meetings. 
Bring  them  to  the  night  meetings.  Have  the  right  kind  of 
conversations  with  them.  And  above  all,  beseech  God  for  the 
light  and  leading  of  His  Holy  Spirit  in  this  work  that  we  are 
all  trying  to  do,  both  publicly  and  privately. 

THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING. 

Text:  "Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things  that 
were  heard,  lest  haply  we  drift  av/ay  from  them." — Heb.  2:1.   (R.  V.) 

And  now  to  the  morning  message.  If  you  were  asked  the 
chief  danger  to  us  all,  what  would  your  answer  be?  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  your  answer.    What  is  , the  chief  danger 

170 


THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING      171 

to  us  all?    The  Bible  tells  us.     It  is  the  danger  of  drifting 
"away'from  the  path  of  duty  and  of  right  and  of  safety.    That 
is  the  chief  danger  for  us  all,  and  there  is  a  Scripture  which 
points  that  for  us,  which  I  quote  you: 

"Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the 
things  which  we  have  heard,  lest  haply  we  drift  away  from 
them." 

There  is  your  revealing  word,  that  word  "drift."  "There- 
fore we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things 
which  we  have  heard,  lest  haply  we  drift  away  from  them." 
The  chief  danger  for  us  every  one  is  indicated  there  in  that 
little  word  "drift."  It  is  the  danger  of  drifting  away  from 
the  path  of  duty  and  of  right  and  of  safety — simply  the  danger 
of  drifting.  That  is  the  chief  danger  of  us  all.  There  are 
many  expressive  figures  in  the  Bible  touching  human  life.  In 
one  place  we  are  asked  the  question:  "What  is  your  life?" 
and  the  answer  is  given  us  in  the  very  next  sentence:  "It  is 
even  a  vapor,  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then  van- 
isheth  away."  It  is  like  a  morning  cloud  dissolved  in  the 
sun.  In  another  place  the  Bible  compares  life  to  the  swift 
ships  of  the  sea.  In  another  place  human  life  is  represented 
as  the  grass  that  groweth  up  in  the  morning,  but  on  the  even- 
ing of  that  same  day  the  grass  is  cut  down  and  withereth. 
Again,  it  compares  life  to  the  eagle  that  hasteth  to  its  prey. 
There  is  no  more  impressive  and  expressive  figure  for  us,  for 
human  life,  than  this  figure  here  of  drifting.  You  can  see  it. 
The  life  boat  goes  down  the  stream.  The  current  bears  it  on, 
and  that  is  the  faithful  picture  of  human  life.  And  because 
of  the  ease  and  the  dangei*  of  drifting,  therefore  we  are  warned 
here  by  the  Word  of  God  to  take  heed  to  the  things  we  have 
heard,  lest  haply  we  drift  away  from  them. 

This  warning  is  for  us  all.  Not  one  of  us  may  be  absolved 
from  it.  Not  one  of  us  but  that  urgently  needs  this  warning 
concerning  the  peril  of  drifting.  It  is  a  warning  for  Christian 
people,  I  should  say,  first  of  all.  Every  Christian  needs  to 
heed  this  warning  here  given  against  the  awful  peril  of  drift- 
ing. The  Bible  is  filled  with  admonitions  to  us  right  at  that 
point.  "Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation." 
How  often  the  Bible  rings  with  that  bugle  call !  "Wherefore, 
let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth,  take  heed  lest  he  fall."  How 


^ 


172  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

that  truth  is  emphasized  in  the  Bible!  How  we  are  warned 
against  the  snare  of  pride,  and  how  the  fearful  consequences 
of  pride  are  set  out  before  us  in  the  Bible!  What  foes  we 
are  reminded  of  in  the  Bible  that  lie  in  wait  to  entrap  us,  and 
to  deceive  us,  and  to  sidetrack  us  from  the  right  path !  There 
is  our  own  flesh,  and  we  are  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  though  the  spirit  is  born  again,  when  we  believe  on  Christ 
as  our  Savior,  yet  the  flesh  is  unregenerated  and  will  be  un- 
regenerated  until  it  shall  be  raised  from  the  dead.  These 
redeemed  spirits  live  in  houses  that  are  not  yet  regenerated, 
and  we  are  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  we  must  reckon 
with  our  flesh  as  we  go  along  in  the  Christian  life.  And  then 
there  is  the  world  about  us,  with  its  amusements  and  its  spirit 
against  God.  And  then  in  addition  to  that  there  is  a  great 
evil  personality  in  the  world,  whose  name  is  Satan,  bedark- 
ening  and  deceiving  and  misleading,  and  seeking  in  every  way 
he  can  to  seduce  us  from  the  right  path.  Here  is  this  great 
triple  alliance,  the  flesh  and  the  v/orld  and  Satan,  and  we  are 
to  watch  all  the  time,  or  we  shall,  by  these  influences  which 
this  triple  alliance  shall  suggest,  drift  away  from  the  right 
path.  We  are  exhorted  to  war  a  good  warfare.  We  are 
exhorted  in  the  Bible  to  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith.  We  are 
exhorted  in  the  Bible  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God  that 
we  may  be  able  to  stand,  and,  having  done  all,  to  stand. 

Now,  we  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  my  fellow  Chris- 
tians, that  the  Christian  life  can  be  lived  shabbily  or  it  can  be 
lived  gloriously.  We  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  that  fact.  We 
can  follow  Christ  afar  off,  or  we  can  walk  beside  Him,  and  be 
His  conscious  friends  and  comrades  and  fellow-workers.  We 
are  not  to  lose  sight  of  that  solemn  truth — the  Christian  life 
can  be  lived  shabbily  or  it  can  be  lived  gloriously.  Oh,  the 
supremest  tragedy,  I  think,  in  all  the  world  is  that  so  often 
saved  people,  people  born  again,  people  who  shall  at  last  reach 
heaven — ^the  tragedy  is  untellable  and  incomparable,  I  think, 
that  even  saved  people  live  the  Christian  life  shabbily.  All 
about  us,  what  revelations  there  would  be  if  men's  hearts  were 
uncovered,  and  we  were  to  trace  the  stories  of  their  declen- 
sions, their  departures  from  Christ,  even  after  He  saves  them ! 
All  about  us  there  are  pictures  of  men  and  women  who  began 
the  Christian  life  well^— oh,  how  hopeful  was  their  promise! 


THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING      173 

— ^and  yet  they  were  bewitched  away  from  that  blessed  course, 
and  they  have  gone  drifting  and  floating.  They  have  floated 
with  the  tide,  and  have  neglected  to  stem  it.  And  the  great 
apostle  here  summons  us,  challenges  us,  to  watch,  that  we  do 
not  go  down  the  currents  with  that  easy  flowing  tide. 

Why  do  Christians  go  away  from  Christ?  The  reasons 
are  all  about  us.  If  a  Christian  neglects  the  vital  duties  and 
habits  that  go  along  with  the  Christian  life,  then  he  will  go 
drifting  down  that  stream.  Let  a  Christian  neglect  church 
attendance,  and  he  will  soon  be  into  trouble.  "Not  forsaking 
jthe  assembling  of  ourselves  together,"  is  an  injunction  ringing 
in  the  Bible  like  some  mighty  trumpet.  Let  any  Christian  be 
careless  on  that  point  of  constant,  habitual,  high-principled 
church  attendance,  and  he  will  soon  be  in  trouble.  Let  any\ 
Christian  neglect  the  vital  matter  of  secret  prayer,  and  he  will 
soon  be  in  trouble.  There  can  be  no  substitutes  for  secret 
prayer.  Let  a  Christian  neglect  the  vital  habit  of  daily  turn- 
ing to  the  Word  of  God  to  get  therefrom  God's  counsel  and 
comfort,  and  such  Christian  will  soon  be  in  trouble.  The 
Christian  life  has  its  reasonable  and  vital  habits,  just  as  the 
physical  life.  Let  the  physical  life  be  ignored  and  maltreated, 
and  the  physical  life  shall  be  preyed  upon,  and  shall  be  vic- 
timized with  declining  health.  And  the  Christian  life  in  just 
the  same  fashion  shall  be  beaten  upon  and  undermined,  if  the 
habits  that  go  with  it  are  ignored  and  forgotten. 

How  do  Christians  get  away  from  the  right  path  and  go 
drifting  down  the  stream?  Sometimes  it  is  because  of  busi- 
ness reverses.  I  have  lived  long  enough  in  a  modern  city — 
twenty  years  in  one  pastorate — to  see  how  men  are  often 
crippled  and  thrown  into  the  deep  currents  because  of  busi- 
ness reverses.  Full  many  a  time  men's  hands  hang  down  and 
their  hearts  faint  when  business  reverses  come,  and  they  seem 
shattered  and  broken  and  oftentimes  fearfully  crippled  in 
their  faith,  when  business  reverses  come.  Business  men  need 
God's  wisdom  and  help,  every  day  and  hour,  in  their  daily 
business. 

And  then  sometimes  it  is  a  sorrow  that  comes  into  life,  a 
blinding,  bedarkening  sorrow,  a  crushing  sorrow,  that  causes 
people  to  drift  away  from  Christ.  Sorrow  has  one  of  two 
effects  in  a  life.    Sorrow  embitters,  sorrow  sours,  sorrow  takes 


174  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

life's  sweetness  ©ut;  or  sorrow  makes  the  beaten  one  draw 
nearer  to  the  Lord  and  ding  the  more  closely  to  Him.  Full 
many  a  time  when  a  sorrow  comes — ^this  or  that  or  the  other 
sorrow — the  soul  turns  away  from  the  source  of  healing  and 
comfort,  and  goes  drifting  down  the  stream,  missing  God's 
proffered  help  for  any  soul  that  will  wait  upon  Him. 

And  then  full  many  a  time  drifting  away  from  God  comes 
on  because  the  soul  is  wrong  in  its  relations  toward  some  other 
human  being.  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  find  out  that  the 
wounds  and  the  hurts  and  the  frictions  that  come  to  the 
human  heart,  out  of  wrong  relations  between  man  and  man, 
make  up  one  of  the  saddest  chapters  in  human  life.  Let  a 
man  be  wrong  in  his  heart  toward  another  human  being,  and 
such  man  is  crippled  dreadfully  in  the  sight  of  God.  There 
is  no  place  in  the  human  heart  for  hate,  if  a  man  is  going  to 
get  on  well  with  God.  A  man  loses  the  sense  of  perspective, 
a  man's  vision  is  blurred,  a  man's  life  is  all  poisoned,  if  he 
gives  place  in  his  heart  for  hate  toward  any  human  being. 
I  have  lived  long  enough  to  see  that  life's  frictions  and  rival- 
ries and  competitions  and  contacts  and  collisions  often  turn 
human  beings  away  from  God.  I  know  two  brothers  who 
have  not  spoken  to  each  other  in  years  and  years.  Both  of 
them  are  nominally  church  members.  I  asked  each  of  them, 
at  separate  times,  just  a  little  while  ago :  "How  are  you  getting 
along  in  the  Christian  life?"  and  each  one  answered  in  effect: 
"Oh,  sir,  bad  enough.  It  has  been  years  since  I  have  had  any 
peace  or  power  as  I  have  tried  to  pray  and  tried  to  serve  God." 
It  could  not  be  otherwise.  The  brothers  quarreled  over  their 
father's  will,  and  they  parted  asunder,  with  anger  each  toward 
the  other,  and  they  have  gone  on  in  such  fearful  course 
through  the  passing  years.  Oh,  my  brother  men,  human  life 
is  too  big  for  that,  too  worthiul  for  that,  too  important  for 
that.  God's  favor  is  too  valuable  for  that.  Our  holy  religion 
is  too  precious  for  that.  We  are  to  come  like  old  Abraham 
came  and  spoke  to  his  nephew.  Lot,  when  the  herdmen  of 
Lot  and  the  herdmen  of  Abraham  were  quarreling  and  were 
divided,  and  Abraham  said  to  his  nephew:  "Lot,  my  boy, 
there  must  be  none  of  this.  Let  there  be  no  strife  between 
your  herdmen  and  mine,  between  you  and  me.  We  be  breth- 
ren.   You  go  your  way  and  I  will  go  mine.    You  take  your 


THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING      175 

pastures  and  I  will  take  mine.  We  will  not  have  any  strife." 
The  human  heart  that  would  serve  God  must  come  to  the  place 
where  it  will  not  be  sidetracked  from  the  path  of  happiness 
and  duty  in  the  Christian  life  by  collision  with  or  animosities 
toward  some  other  human  life.  Full  many  a  time  drifting 
comes  just  at  that  point.  There  come  some  experiences  into 
the  human  life  which  shatter  confidence,  and  which  make  the 
soul  stand  back  aghast,  and  which  raise  a  score  of  questions 
about  religion,  and  down  the  stream  the  life  goes,  and  church 
attendance  is  given  up,  and  church  habits  are  broken,  and  on 
and  on  and  on  with  the  tide  such  poor  life  goes  floating  down. 
Oh,  it  is  pitiable  and  it  is  terrible ! 

And  sometimes  the  Christian  life  gets  all  wrong  with  God 
and  goes  drifting  down  the  stream  because  of  admission  into 
it  of  some  wrong  thing — of  some  secret  sin.  I  am  thinking 
now  of  a  well  known  man  whose  case  puzzled  numbers  of  us, 
and  when  we  looked  into  it  at  last  v/e  found  he  had  accus- 
tomed himself  in  the  secret  place,  without  even  the  knowledge 
of  his  wife,  to  an  ill-fated  drug,  that  bedarkened  and  dead- 
ened and  turned  him  away  from  the  right  path.  Let  a  man 
admit  into  his  life  any  evil  thing,  and  coddle  it,  and  pamper 
it,  and  keep  it  there,  and  he  is  all  sidetracked  from  the  right 
course,  and  down  that  stream  he  will  go  drifting.  Some 
secret  sin  will  shrivel  and  wither  his  peace  in  the  sight  of  God. 
"If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear  me."' 
Oh,  how  pitiable  and  how  terrible  it  all  is!  At  last  such 
Christian,  all  broken  and  drifting,  and  to  the  largest  degree 
useless,  shall  come  up  empty-handed  in  the  sight  of  God.  It 
is  an  awful  thing  to  be  saved  just  by  the  skin  of  one's  teeth. 
It  is  an  awful  thing  to  think  of  meeting  Christ  empty-handed, 
with  the  works  of  our  life  all  burned  up,  but  they  shall  be, 
if  they  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God. 

Do  I  speak  today  to  drifting  Christians?  I  pass  my  eye 
and  hand  down  every  pew  before  me,  and  would  pause  at  the 
door  of  every  heart.  Do  I  speak  to  drifting  Christians?  Turn 
your  boat  up-stream,  whatever  it  costs,  whatever  the  price. 
Oh,  my  drifting  fellow  Christians,  turn  your  boat  up-stream ! 
You  have  too  much  at  stake  to  go  on  like  that.  Whatever  the 
price,  whatever  the  cost,  turn  that  boat  up-stream.  Set  your- 
self with  a  resolution  deathless:    "I  am  going  td  recover  my 


176  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

feet.  I  am  going  to  retrace  my  wrong  steps.  I  am  coming 
home.  I  am  coming  back  to  my  Father's  house.  I  will  burn 
the  bridges."  Turn  your  boat  up-stream,  oh,  drifting  Chris- 
tian! 

But  I  have  a  word  more  for  the  one  who  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian. There,  is  to  be  sure,  a  great  peril  to  the  Christian  that 
he  shall  drift,  but  I  have  a  serious  word  to  the  one  not  a 
Christian.  There  are  currents  to  make  you  drift,  and  they  are 
terrible.  There  are  currents  in  this  stream  on  which  your 
boat  floats  to  beat  you  down  and  to  keep  you  away  from 
heaven  and  away  from  God.    What  are  those  currents? 

There  is  the  daily  atmosphere  that  is  about  you,  the  atmos- 
phere impregnated  with  worldliness  and  with  materialism, 
with  all  their  down-dragging  pressure  and  tendency.  There 
is  the  subtle  atmosphere  about  you  to  keep  you  away  from 
God.  How  difficult  in  some  atmospheres  it  is  to  pray!  How 
difficult  in  some  atmospheres  to  think  seriously!  All  about 
us  is  the  down-dragging  atmosphere,  to  make  us  forget  sin 
and  death  and  the  judgment  and  the  world  to  come,  and  our 
personal  accountability  to  God.  The  atmosphere  about  you 
may  easily  cause  you  to  drift.  Such  atmosphere  tells  us: 
"When  in  Rome  do  as  the  Roman  does."  The  very  atmos- 
phere about  you  constantly  inclines  your  boat  to  go  down 
the  stream. 

What  other  current  is  there  to  cause  your  boat  to  go  down 
the  stream?  There  is  the  daily  task.  We  are  preoccupied. 
We  have  our  hands  full,  our  heads  full,  our  hearts  full,  our 
lives  full.  There  is  the  daily  task.  Over  there  in  Luke's  gos- 
pel Jesus  gives  a  faithful  picture  of  human  life.  He  spoke  a 
parable  to  them,  saying:  *The  ground  of  a  certain  rich  man 
brought  forth  plentifully,  and  he  thought  within  himself,  say- 
ing, What  shall  I  do,  because  I  have  no  room  where  to  be- 
stow my  fruits  and  my  goods  ?  And  he  said,  This  will  I  do ; 
I  will  pull  down  my  bams  and  build  greater,  and  there  will  I 
bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my  goods,  and  I  will  say  to  my  soul. 
Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years.  Take 
thine  ease.  Eat,  drink  and  be  merry."  Wasn't  it  fine?  Oh, 
no,  it  was  not  fine.  This  man  forgot  that  his  soul  could  not  be 
fed  on  com.  This  man  forgot  that  he  was  doomed  to  die. 
This  man  forgot  that  he  must  answer  God.    This  man  said: 


THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING      177 

**I  will  say  to  my  soul,  Thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years.  Take  thine  ease.  Eat,  drink  and  be  merry.  No  mat- 
ter if  the  drouth  comes,  no  matter  if  no  crops  are  made,  I 
have  enough  for  years.  I  will  not  worry.  Take  thine  ease. 
Eat,  drink  and  be  merry."  But  God,  who  is  the  unseen  but 
real  factor  in  every  human  life,  said  to  him:  "Thou  fool, 
thou  fool,  this  night  shall  thy  life  be  required  of  thee.  Then 
whose  shall  those  things  be  which  thou  hast  provided?  So 
is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  to- 
ward God."  A  man's  daily  business,  profitable  and  proper 
business,  a  man's  daily  tasks,  profitable  and  proper,  if  he  does 
not  watch,  shall  make  him  lock  God  and  light  and  heaven  out 
of  his  life  and  miss  all  that  is  highest  and  best,  and  bring 
him  to  doom  and  death. 

What  other  current  is  there  to  make  you  drift?  There  is 
the  deadening  that  comes  from  familiarity  with  religious 
things,  to  make  men  drift.  I  said  to  a  sexton  in  one  of  our 
cemeteries:  "Doesn't  this  daily  digging  of  graves  depress 
you?"  And  he  said:  "Not  now,  sir,  not  now.  When  I  first 
began  to  dig  these  graves  out  here,  I  was  blue  from  night  uhtil 
morning  and  from  morning  till  night.  I  went  to  my  bed  at 
the  end  of  the  day's  work,  to  dream  through  the  night  about 
digging  graves,  and  I  dreamed  about  seeing  the  big  caskets, 
and  the  tiny  caskets,  and  all,  but  now,  sir,  I  have  got  past  all 
that.  I  could  lie  down  in  the  midst  of  these  graves  now  and 
sleep  without  any  disturbance.  I  have  been  in  it  so  long,  I 
have  touched  it  so  much,  I  have  become  so  familiar  with  it, 
it  makes  no  impression  upon  me  at  all." 

Oh,  that  deadening  power,  if  we  resist  light  from  God! 
That  is  a  fearful  Scripture  which  says  that  the  gospel  is  the 
savor  of  life  unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death.  A  man 
hears  the  gospel  and  resists  it.  He  is  weaker  and  worse  off 
than  ever  before.  The  gospel  is  the  savor  of  life  unto  life, 
or  of  death  unto  death.  There  is  the  undoing  power,  the 
deadening  power,  the  corroding  power,  the  wasting  power  of 
familiarity  with  religious  things. 

And  along  with  that  is  the  deadening  power  that  comes 
with  time.  A  business  man,  who  has  made  good  in  the  world's 
big  affairs,  a  splendid  man  in  many  ways,  said  to  me  a  little 
while  back,  when  I  talked  to  him  about  religion  and  the  higher 


178  A'  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

call,  after  we  had  talked  perhaps  two  hours :  "Sir,  you  think 
I  have  won  in  life."  I  said:  "Yes,  in  a  way,  you  have." 
"Well,"  he  said,  "the  world  would  say  I  have  won  in  life,  with 
all  this  business  success,"  and  then  he  turned  upon  me  with 
his  care-worn  face  and  said:  "I  would  give  every  dollar  I 
have  if  I  could  cry  about  personal  religion  like  I  used  to 
when  I  was  a  sixteen  year  old  boy.  But,"  he  said,  "I  have 
given  myself,  I  have  given  my  life,  I  have  given  my  hands,  I 
have  given  my  brain,  I  have  given  my  blood,  I  have  given  my 
manhood,  I  have  neglected  my  family,  I  have  given  my  all, 
to  win,  and  I  do  not  seem  to  have  any  feeling  any  more  at 
all."  And  he  is  not  yet  quite  fifty  years  of  age.  Yes,  yes, 
the  currents  are  all  about  you  to  beat  you  down. 

There  is  another  serious  word  to  be  said,  and  that  is  that 
we  can  go  drifting  down  the  stream  and  not  know  it.  Many 
a  Christian  is  terribly  backslidden  in  his  heart  and  does  not 
realize  it.  You  remember  the  story  about  Samson.  Samson 
wist  not  that  his  strength  had  departed  from  him,  and  when 
he  went  out  to  grapple  with  his  task  he  was  utterly  paralyzed. 
His  strength  was  gone,  and  he  v/ist  it  not.  You  remember 
that  description  of  Israel  of  old — gray  hairs  were  upon  his 
head,  but  he  did  not  know  that  he  had  gray  hairs.  A  man 
can  drift  and  be  far  down  the  stream,  almost  to  the  rapids, 
almost  to  the  frightful  plunge  over  the  precipice,  and  not 
know  it  at  all. 

Oh,  soul,  wrong  with  God,  I  am  coming  in  this  last  moment 
to  beg  you  to  turn  your  boat  up-stream.  Is  there  anything  in 
your  life  wTong  in  the  sight  of  God?  Do  you  wince  when  you 
think  of  bringing  your  life  to  the  gaze  of  Heaven — ^to  the  in- 
spection of  God  ?  Do  you  wince  ?  Then  I  pray  you,  be  candid, 
and  I  pray  you,  be  serious,  and  I  pray  you,  be  purposeful,  and 
I  pray  you,  be  determined,  and  I  pray  you,  be  highly  resolved. 
I  pray  you,  turn  that  boat  up-stream.  You  have  too  much  at 
stake  to  go  longer  and  further  down  the  stream.  Act  up  to  the 
light  you  have.  A  noted  woman,  in  the  darkness,  terrible  dark- 
ness religious,  said  to  one :  "What  on  earth  shall  I  do  ?  Every- 
thing about  religion  is  dark  as  night  to  me?  What  shall  I 
do?"  And  that  one  whom  she  questioned  gave  her  back  this 
wise  answer:  "Oh,  lady,  act  as  if  God  were,  and  you  shall 
iy  come  to  know  that  He  is."    And  in  just  a  few  hours  she  came 


THE  DEADLY  DANGER  OF  DRIFTING      179 

back,  His  surrendered,  trusting  child.     My  fellow-men,  my 
gentle  women,  act  up  to  the  light  you  have. 

Have  you  drifted?  Are  you  drifting?  Is  there  some- 
thing in  your  life  wrong  in  the  sight  of  God.  Is  your  boat 
going  down  the  stream?  I  pray  you,  I  challenge  you,  I  be- 
seech you,  I  summon  you,  I  call  to  you — turn  your  boat  up- 
stream and  turn  it  without  delay,  and  turn  it  before  it  is  too 
late. 

A  young  fellow  heard  a  preacher  in  the  other  days,  and 
was  greatly  moved,  and  the  preacher  said :  "When  you  have  a 
religious  impression,  the  time  to  act  upon  it  is  right  then. 
The  time  when  you  hear  God's  call,  in  the  which  you  ought  to 
respond  is  right  then."  And  the  young  fellow  walked  down 
the  aisle  and  publicly  made  his  surrender  to  Christ,  saying: 
"It  shall  be  right  now  that  I  take  Christ  as  my  Savior,"  and 
he  went  back  to  the  saw-mill  in  the  mountains  where  he  work- 
ed, and  the  boys  said  that  next  morning  he  sang  all  the  morn- 
ing. Religion  in  the  heart  makes  men  sing.  The  boys  said 
that  he  sang  all  the  morning,  as  they  moved  the  great  logs  to 
the  saw-mill,  and  as  he  went  singing  all  that  morning — ^the 
first  morning  that  he  had  ever  known  what  it  was  to  be 
Christ's  trusting  disciple  and  follower — about  noon  his  body 
was  caught  somehow  in  the  machinery  and  crushed  and  man- 
gled, so  that  a  little  while  thereafter  he  went  away  into  dusty 
death.  When  they  got  him  out  he  faintly  said :  "Send  for  the 
preacher,  that  preacher  in  the  church  house  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  last  night."  The  preacher  fortunately  was  soon 
found  and  hurried  up  the  mountain  to  the  mill,  and  he  bent 
down  by  the  side  of  the  dying  fellow,  and  took  his  hand  and 
said:  "Charley,  I  have  come.  What  would  you  like  to  say?" 
And  with  a  smile  on  his  face  that  was  never  on  land  or  sea, 
he  faintly  pressed  the  minister's  hand  and  said :  "Wasn't  it  a 
glorious  thing  that  I  settled  it  in  time?"  Oh,  my  men  and 
women,  my  men  and  women,  I  beseech  you,  in  the  great 
Savior's  name,  turn  your  boat  up-stream  before  it  is  too  late ! 
"Now  is  the  accepted  time.  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation." 
Let  it  be  your  time — your  day.  Lord,  save  thou  the  people 
and  they  shall  be  saved ! 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  Holy  Fatlier,  as  the  people  go  out  from  this  midday  service,  may 
they   go  to  practice   the   truth   they  have   heard.      May   they   go   to  put    Into  life 


180  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  summons,  the  challenge,  the  exhortation,  the  entreaty  of  God's  Boole,  which 
has  been  brought  us  this  hour.  May  the  drifting  Christian  say:  "As  for  me, 
whatever  others  may  or  may  not  do,  God  help  nie,  I  am  going  to  turn  my  steps 
in  the  right  way  to-day."  May  such  one  say  with  Joshua:  "As  for  me  and  my 
house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord."  O,  we  pray  that  the  drifting  Christian,  no  mat- 
ter what  caused  the  drifting,  nor  how  and  where  it  began,  may  such  Christian 
this  day  come  back  and  walk  humbly  with  Christ,  and  be  saved  from  those 
burning  memories,  and  those  accusations  of  conscience,  which  ever  follow  waste 
and  drifting  in  the  Christian  life.  And  still  more  do  we  pray.  Lord  Jesus,  that 
the  soul  in  this  place  that  is  going  down  life's  stream,  without  hope  and  without 
God,  not  saved,  not  ready  to  live,  not  ready  to  die,  not  ready  for  any  world,  all 
wrong  with  God,  wrong  with  the  moral  universe,  wrong  with  time,  wrong  with 
eternity,  wrong  with  earth,  wrong  with  heaven,  wrong  in  every  right  respect,  be- 
cause wrong  in  the  chiefest  way — may  such  man  or  woman  now  be  helped  of  God's 
gprace  to  say:  "As  for  me,  this  day,  God  help  me,  my  life  is  going  to  be  linked 
with  the  will  of  Christ."  May  every  soul  in  this  presence  wrong  with  God,  now 
say:  _*'As  for  me,  this  day  I  will  seek  the  Lord,  and  I  will  follow  Him  wherever 
His  light  and  leading  shall  point  the  way."  Deepen  this  work  of  grace  profoundly 
in  the  hearts  of  this  multitude  this  midday  hour,  O  thou  life-giving  Lord,  and  all 
through  this  fair  city,  may  God,  by  His  Divine  Spirit,  make  many  a  visit  to-day, 
summoning  the  people  in  the  upward  way. 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all  and  each  as  now  you  go, 
to  abide  with  you  forever.    Amen. 


XIII 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  18,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Again  and  again  does  the  duty  and  the  privilege  need 
to  be  urged  upon  all  of  the  great  Master's  friends  that  we 
shall  give  ourselves,  one  by  one  and  from  day  to  day,  the 
best  we  can,  to  the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting.  'Tis 
a  glorious  thing.  'Tis  nobly  constructive.  'Tis  the  right 
kind  of  thing  in  a  meeting,  when  God's  people  not  only 
make  it  a  point  to  come  to  the  public  services,  but  make 
it  a  point  to  go  away  from  the  public  services  and  as  best 
they  can  speak  to  the  people  about  Christ  and  His  great 
salvation.  You  recall  that  cordial  and  beautiful  invitation 
that  Moses  gave  to  Hobab,  his  kinsman :  ''Come  thou  with 
us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good."  That  invitation  ought 
to  be  given  by  Christians  day  by  day:  "Come  thou  with 
us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good."  They  are  all  about  us, 
those  who  need  such  personal  appeal.  They  are  our  neigh- 
bors. Some  of  them  are  our  own  loved  ones,  living  under 
our  own  roofs.  They  are  our  fellow-citizens.  They  are 
our  friends.  They  are  strangers  within  our  gates.  They 
are  the  poor  and  the  rich,  the  high  and  the  low.  Day  in 
and  out,  the  right  kind  of  religious  visiting,  by  which  is 
meant  the  right  kind  of  conversation  concerning  personal 
religion,  ought  to  be  had  by  Christ's  friends.  Do  it,  I  pray 
you,  my  fellow  Christians,  to  the  last  limit  of  your  power. 
Speak  the  word  in  season  to  others,  from  day  to  day,  who 
need  to  hear  from  your  lips  the  right  appeal  concerning 
personal  religion. 

181 


;^g2  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

It  is  a  deeply  interesting  study  to  glance  at  the  faces 
of  people  assembled  in  an  audience  like  this,  from  evemng 
to  evening.     I  have  found  myself  searchmg  the  audience, 
as  I  do  every  audience,  and  my  heart  is  moved  by  tiie  di- 
versity  of  faces,  for  what  is  quite  so  interesting  as  a  human 
face?      It  has  been  specially  interesting  to  note  that  all 
aees  are  coming  to  the  services ;  the  older  people,  with  their 
white  hairs  and  their  stooped  shoulders,  and  the  strong, 
middle-aged  men  and  women,  now  grappling  with  the  big 
battle  of  life,  and  the  young  men  and  women,  beginning 
to  know  something  of  the  seriousness  of  life,  and  then  the 
happy  boys  and  girls.    How  blessed  it  has  been  to  see  the 
boys  and  girls  in  these  several  evening  services,  and  still 
more  blessed  to  mark  how  they  listen!     I  look  about  me 
and  note  in  the  audience  this  evening  many  boys  and  girls, 
and  find  my  heart  lifting  up  a  prayer  for  every  boy  and 
every  eirl,  and  find  my  heart  lifting  up  a  prayer  for  every 
young  man  and  woman.    Oh,  how  I  covet  the  young  people 
for  Christ'    It  is  God's  time  for  them  to  come,  while  they 
are  young,  for  Jesus  not  only  wishes  to  receive  us  into 
heaven  when  we  shall  die  and  leave  this  world,  but  He 
wishes  us  also  to  live  like  we  ought  while  we  are  in  this 
world      He  desires  not  only  to  save  our  souls,  but  He 
would  save  our  lives  here  and  now.    And,  therefore,  how 
reasonable,  how  wise,  that  we  should  be  inexpressibly  con- 
cerned for  the  boys  and  girls,  for  the  young  men  and 
women. 

WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS? 

Text:   *'What  shaU  I  do  then  with  Jesus  which  is  called  Christy-Matt.  27:22. 

I  would  take  a  text  this  evening  that  I  would  have 
every  boy  carefully  to  hear,  and  every  girl,  and  every 
young  man,  and  every  young  woman,  and  the  older  men 
and  women,  because  the  text  is  a  personal  question,  from 
which  there  is  no  getting  away,  an  old  ^^^^tion  a  question 
asked  by  Pilate.  This  is  that  old  question:  What  shall 
I  do  then  with  Jesus?"  ^  ^      ^  | 

Pilate  had  to  face  that  question,  and  he  trifled  vdtK  it,, 
and  he  made  shipwreck  of  himself  because  he  trifled  with 
that  question.    And  everybody  that  trifles  with  that  ques- 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?      183 

tion  shall  make  shipwreck  of  himself  or  herself  for  time 
and  for  eternity.  "What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus?"  That 
question  is  yours  and  mine,  just  the  same  as  it  was  Pilate's, 
and  we  must  answer  that  question,  just  as  surely  as  he 
was  called  upon  to  answer  it  long  ago.  Now  I  am  coming 
to  ask  these  young  people  and  these  older  people,  to-night, 
and  all  of  us,  and  each  one  of  us,  how  shall  we  answer 
this  question:  "What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus?"  How 
shall  we  answer  it? 

Sometimes  the  best  way  to  answer  a  question  is  to  ask 
other  questions,  and  that  is  the  way  I  am  going  to  do 
to-night  with  this  question.  I  am  going  to  ask  you  some 
other  questions,  so  that  by  asking  these  other  questions 
we  will  be  led  up  to  see  what  we  ought  to  do  with  this 
question  we  have  to-night  for  our  text:  "What  shall  I 
do  then  with  Jesus?" 

And  this  is  the  first  question  I  would  ask:  What  can 
I  do  with  Jesus?  Do  something  with  Him  I  must.  I  can- 
not evade  that  question.  I  cannot  avoid  it.  I  cannot  es- 
cape it.  Do  something  with  Jesus  I  must.  Neutrality 
respecting  that  question  is  impossible.  Now,  what  can 
I  do  with  Jesus?  I  can  accept  Him  as  my  Savior,  or  I 
can  reject  Him  and  turn  away  from  Him,  just  as  this  man 
Pilate  did.  I  can  crown  Him  as  my  Savior,  or  I  can  cru- 
cify Him  morally  in  my  heart.  I  can  put  Him  away  and 
have  nothing  to  do  with  Him.  I  must  do  one  of  those 
two  things.  There  are  not  three  things  to  be  done  about 
Jesus,  but  one  of  two  things.  I  shall  either  be  His  friend 
or  His  foe.  I  shall  either  accept  Him  as  my  Savior  or 
reject  Him.  I  shall  either  follow  after  Him  or  turn  away 
from  Him.  I  shall  either  say  "Yes"  to  Him,  or  "No"  to 
Him.  I  shall  either  be  for  Him  or  against  Him.  Now,  I 
must  do  one  of  those  two  things. 

That  brings  us  to  the  second  question  I  would  ask: 
Who  is  to  decide  the  question  for  me — "What  shall  I  do 
then  with  Jesus?"  Who  is  to  decide  that  question  for  me? 
There  is  but  one  somebody  in  all  the  world  to  decide  that 
question  for  me.  Who  is  that  somebody?  Certainly  not 
my  foes,  if  I  have  any,  are  to  decide  that  question  for  me — 
and  I. trust  that  I  have  none.     Certainly  not  my  friends — 


SC 


184  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

and  I  trust  I  have  friends — but  however  many,  or  how- 
ever few,  or  however  true  they  may  be,  no  friend  that  I 
have  in  this  world  can  decide  that  question  for  me,  but 
I  m3^self  must  decide  it.  Nor  will  I  be  forced  to  decide 
it.  I  will  not  be  coerced  to  decide  it.  I  will  not  be  com- 
pelled by  force  to  decide  this  question.  Jesus  comes  and 
stands  before  us  and  asks:  "What  will  you  do  with  me? 
Do  something  with  me  you  must.  What  is  it  going  to 
be?"  Nobody  will  compel  me.  Nobody  will  coerce  me. 
Nobody  will  drive  me.  Nobody  will  force  me.  I  myself 
must  face  that  question,  and  I  must  answer  it.  Now  there 
comes  in  the  highest  dignity  of  human  life,  and  there  comes 
in  the  greatest  danger  to  human  life.  The  highest  dignity 
of  human  life  is  that  a  human  being  can  say  "Yes"  or  say 
"No"  to  God.  A  little  human  being,  fashioned  by  the 
great  Maker,  can  say  "Yes"  or  say  "No"  to  God,  and  will 
say  one  of  those  two  things  when  God  makes  His  call. 
That  is  the  highest  dignity  allowed  a  human  being  and  at 
the  same  time  that  is  the  greatest  danger  that  ever  comes 
to  a  human  life.  No  danger  can  compare  with  that.  I  can 
take  this  awful  power  of  choice  that  God  has  given  me — 
and  the  highest  prerogative  of  human  life  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  choice — I  can  take  that  and  I  can  ruin  myself  with 
it.  I  can  ruin  my  life ;  I  can  ruin  my  soul ;  I  can  ruin  all 
pertaining  to  me,  by  flinging  choice  down  into  the  ditch 
and  making  the  wrong  use  of  choice.  Certainly,  God  is 
never  at  fault  that  a  soul  makes  the  wrong  choice.  God 
is  never  at  fault  that  a  soul  misses  the  upward  way. 

Listen  to  God  as  He  talks  about  it.  He  takes  a  great 
oath  by  himself,  saying:  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God, 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked;  but  that 
the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live;"  "Turn  ye,  turn 
ye,  from  your  evil  ways;  for  why  will  ye  die,  oh,  house 
of  Israel?"  Certainly  Jesus  is  never  at  fault  that  a  soul 
misses  the  upward  way.  Look  at  Jesus  yonder,  weeping 
over  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  as  He  weeps.  He  utters 
that  plaintive  cry:  "Oh,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not! 
Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate."    JesuS  is 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?       185 

never  at  fault  that  a  soul  misses  the  upward  way.  If  I 
shall  miss  the  heavenly  way,  if  this  boy  shall,  or  that  girl, 
or  that  young  man  or  woman,  or  the  middle-aged  man  or 
woman,  or  the  oldest  man  or  woman  here  to-night ;  if  any 
of  us  shall  miss  that  upward  way,  which  I  pray  God  to 
forbid— yet  if  any  of  us  shall  miss  the  upward  way,  the 
fault  will  not  be  God's  fault,  but  it  will  be  our  fault. 

And  now  that  brings  me  to  another  question:     What 
does  it  matter  what  I  do  with  Jesus?     Does  it  matter  at 
all?    I  have  already  said:    Do  something  with  Him  I  must. 
Do  something  with  Him  I  will.     I  will  be  for  Him  or 
against  Him.    As  certainly  as  I  live  and  breathe,  do  some- 
thing with  Jesus  I  must,  I  must.    Now,  what  does  it  matter 
what  I  do  with  Him?     Does  it  matter  at  all?    And  if  it 
matters,   how    does   it   matter?     Wherein   does   it   matter 
what  I  do  with  Jesus?    I  am  coming  to  say  that  it  matters 
vitally  in  three  great  respects.     Let  us  see  what  they  are. 
First   of  all,   it  matters  vitally  to   you  personally,   in 
your  own  life,  what  you  do  with  Jesus.    Jesus  comes  offer- 
ing to'  forgive  your  sins,  if  you  will   surely  trust   Him. 
Jesus  comes  offering  to  give  you  a  new  heart,  if  you  will 
trust  Him  as  your  Savior.    Jesus  comes  offering  to  change 
you  with  a  change  that  must  be  within  you,  if  you  would 
meet  God  in  peace.    Jesus  does  all  that.    If  you  come  and 
give  yourself  up  to  Jesus  as  your  Savior,  then  m  His  own 
way.  He  will  change  you  and  forgive  your  sins,  and  put 
His'power  within  you,  and  give  you  His  great  salvation. 
Surely,  that  is  a  matter  of  unspeakable  concern  to  you. 
What  you  do  with  Jesus  determines  whether  you  shall  be 
saved.    If  you  do  the  right  thing  with  Jesus,  you  will  be 
saved.     If  you  do  the  wrong  thing  with  Jesus,  you  will 
miss  the  upward  way  and  be  forever  lost.    Surely,  that 
is  a  matter  of  supreme  moment  for  you,  what  you  shall 
do  with  Jesus  for  your  own  self. 

But  that  is  not  all.  What  you  do  with  Jesus  vitally 
matters  about  your  relations  to  everybody  else.  What 
you  do  with  Jesus  vitally  affects  the  life  you  are  to  live 
and  the  influence  you  are  to  wield  down  here  in  this  world. 
Jesus  came,  as  I  said  a  moment  ago,  not  only  to  save  our 
§ouls  and  to  bring  us  home  to  heaven  when  this  hfe.  down 


186  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

here  is  done,  but  Jesus  wants  to  save  our  lives,  wants  to 
save  our  influence,  wants  to  save  us,  and  have  us  on  the 
right  side  here  in  this  world — here  and  now.  And  what 
you  do  with  Jesus  not  only  matters  for  yourself,  but  it 
matters  in  your  influence  over  everybody  else.  If  I  should 
ask  these  young  people  to-night  this  question:  "Do  you 
desire  to  be  useful?  Do  you  wish  to  live  the  life  most 
useful?"  your  answer  would  be  given  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  and  with  uplifted  hand  you  would  say:  "Sir, 
I  desire  to  live  the  useful  life,  to  live  the  most  useful  life 
that  it  is  possible  for  me  to  live  while  I  live  in  this 
world."  Well,  the  most  useful  life  is  utterly  impossible  if 
you  do  not  do  the  right  thing  with  Jesus.  If  you  do  not 
take  Jesus  to  be  your  Savior  and  Master,  the  most  useful 
life  is  utterly  impossible.  Jesus  comes  wanting  to  save 
our  life,  our  influence,  have  us  on  the  right  side,  so  that 
our  powers  may  not  be  misplaced,  and  be  misused,  and  be 
wasted.  Jesus  wants  to  save  us  in  the  life  that  we  live 
here  and  now,  in  its  relations  towards  other  people. 

An  old  man  was  saved  when  he  was  just  eighty  years 
old.  Not  many  people  live  to  be  that  old.  Perhaps  very  few 
of  us  in  this  company  will  live  to  be  eighty.  Three  score 
and  ten  is  man's  allotted  life.  But  this  old  man  that  I  am 
thinking  of  lived  to  be  eighty,  and  at  eighty  he  was  glo- 
riously converted  to  Christ.  Like  a  little  child,  he  said 
"Yes"  to  Jesus  when  Jesus  called  him,  and  then  he  lived 
four  years  more.  He  lived  to  be  eighty-four  years  old,  and 
you  might  ask  him  when  he  was  eighty-four  years  old  how 
old  he  was,  and  he  would  tell  you  that  he  was  "four  years 
old."  His  great-grandchildren  would  sometimes  get  around 
him,  and  they  would  say:  "Grandpa,  how  old  are  you?" 
And  the  dear  old  man,  with  his  voice  trembling,  would 
say:  "My  children,  grandpa  is  four  years  old."  And  they 
v/ould  laugh  and  nudge  one  another,  and  would  say :  "Why, 
grandpa,  you  are  eighty-four."  "No,"  he  would  say,  "I  am 
four  years  old."  And  they  would  laugh  again  and  say: 
"Why,  grandpa,  you  are  eighty-four."  And  then  he  would 
stop  and  explain  to  them,  every  time:  "No.  my  children, 
grandpa  lived  eighty  years  without  God.  Grandpa  lived 
eighty  years  without  being  the  friend  of  Jesus.     Grandpa 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?       187 

lived  eighty  years  going  the  wrong  road,  putting  his  life 
on  the  wrong  side,  on  the  side  of  sin  and  Satan,  and  he  has 
lived  just  four  years  on  the  right  side,  just  four  years  on 
Jesus*  side,  and,  therefore,  grandpa  insists  that  he  is  just 
four  years  old."  Now,  there  was  deep  truth  in  what  he 
said.  He  was  making  the  point  that  I  am  making  to- 
night— that  Jesus  wants  to  save  our  lives,  and  our  lives 
are  not  saved  to  the  highest  if  they  are  against  Jesus,  if 
they  refuse  Jesus,  if  they  reject  Jesus,  if  they  turn  away 
and  fail  to  follow  Jesus. 

But  more  is  yet  to  be  said.  What  does  it  matter  what 
we  do  with  Jesus?  It  matters  something  else,  very  im- 
portant. I  have  said  it  matters  for  our  own  salvation  what 
we  do  with  Jesus.  And  then  I  have  said  it  matters  for 
the  life  that  we  live  in  this  world  what  we  do  with  Jesus. 
Now  I  make  bold  to  say  this  other  word:  Where  we  are 
going  to  spend  eternity  is  dependent  upon  what  we  do 
with  Jesus.  Now,  isn't  that  a  momentous  matter?  Where 
shall  I  spend  eternity?  Eternity,  oh,  thou  great  eternity! 
Where  shall  I  spend  eternity?  I  will  spend  eternity  ac- 
cording to  what  I  do  with  Christ,  and  according  to  what  I 
do  with  Christ  here  in  this  world,  before  I  go  into  eternity 
at  all.  Now,  isn't  that  a  stupendous  matter?  And  isn't 
that  a  matter  to  take  hold  of  the  hearts  of  these  young 
people,  and  these  middle-aged,  older  people?  Where  shall 
I  spend  eternity?  I  will  spend  eternity  according  to  what 
I  do  with  Christ  here  in  the  world,  here  in  time,  here  in 
the  flesh,  here  on  this  earth. 

If  you  have  ever  been  to  the  Jerry  McCauley  Mission, 
yonder  in  New  York  City,  you  will  recall  that  as  you  en- 
tered it,  your  attention  was  arrested  by  a  striking  motto, 
there  in  plain  view  before  you,  and  this  is  the  question  of 
that  motto:  "If  I  should  die  to-night,  where  would  I  go?" 
Every  man  and  woman  that  comes  in  sees  the  placard 
there  on  the  wall :  "If  I  should  die  to-night,  where  would 
I  go?"  I  ask  this  audience,  this  Monday  night,  to  ask 
themselves,  one  by  one:  "If  I  should  die  to-night,  where 
would  I  go?" 

You  would  go  into  eternity  according  to  your  relations 
here  to  Christ.     Christ  said  to  some  people  who  caviled 


188  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

at  His  teaching  when  He  was  here :  "Ye  shall  die  in  your 
sins;  whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come."  Christ  distinctly 
teaches  us  that  our  relation  in  eternity  will  be  determined 
by  our  relation  here  in  time  to  Christ.  How  serious,  how 
momentous,  how  tremendous,  is  that  thought!  If  I  am 
to  spend  eternity  in  blessedness  and  peace,  then  that  mat- 
ter will  be  determined  here  in  time  by  what  I  do  with 
Christ.  And  if  here  in  time,  I  reject  Christ,  forget  Christ, 
leave  Him  alone,  do  not  come  to  Him,  do  not  say  "Yes" 
to  Him,  do  not  surrender  to  Him,  and  die  in  that  state  of 
mind  and  heart,  where  He  goes  I  cannot  come.  It  is  the 
clear  and  unspeakably  solemn  pronouncement  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, whenever  the  question  of  destiny  is  touched  upon 
in  the  Scriptures.  "As  the  tree  falls,  so  shall  it  lie."  "He 
that  is  unjust,"  says  the  Bible,  "let  him  be  unjust  still." 
"He  that  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still."  "He  that  is  right- 
eous, let  him  be  righteous  still."  "He  that  is  holy,  let  him 
be  holy  still."  What  I  do  with  Christ  here  in  time,  on 
earth,  this  side  of  the  grave,  will  determine  where  shall 
be  my  eternity. 

I  have  asked  you  three  questions,  and  I  have  just  one 
more  to  ask.  I  have  asked  you  three  questions,  trying  to 
help  you  answer  this  question  of  our  text:  "What  shall 
I  do  then  with  Jesus?"  First,  what  can  you  do  with  Je- 
sus? You  can  accept  Him  or  reject  Him.  You  can  say 
"Yes"  to  Him  or  "No"  to  Him.  Second,  what  does  it 
matter  what  you  do  with  Jesus?  It  matters  vitally  for 
yourself.  It  matters  vitally  for  the  life  you  are  to  live  in 
this  world.  And  it  determines  where  you  will  spend  your 
eternity  in  the  world  after  this.  Who  is  to  answer  this 
question  for  us  ?  We  have  looked  at  that  question  also.  No- 
body in  the  world  can  answer  that  question  for  us,  but 
each  one  for  himself,  for  herself,  must  answer  it.  Now, 
I  am  coming  to  ask  one  more  question  in  the  discussion 
of  this  pungent  question.  Here  it  is :  When  should  I  de- 
cide this  question,  "What  shall  I  do  with  Jesus?"  Your 
question  and  my  question,  the  inescapable  question,  the 
inexorable  question  —  when  should  this  question,  "What 
shall  I  do  with  Jesus?"  be  decided?  Shall  it  be  decided  yes- 
day?    It   cannot  be   now.    Yesterday   is   gone,   and   shall 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?       189 

never  come  back  again.  Shall  it  be  decided  to-morrow? 
We  do  not  know  anything  about  to-morrow.  We  have 
no  promise  of  to-morrow.  The  Bible  distinctly  prohibits 
our  building  on  to-morrow.  "Boast  not  thyself  of  to-mor- 
row; for  thou  knowest  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth." 
When,  then,  should  this  question  be  decided?  There  is 
only  one  time.  The  Bible  tells  us  that  time.  "To-day  is 
the  day  of  salvation."  "Now  is  the  accepted  time."  "To- 
day, if  ye  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your  heart."  The 
time  wherein  this  question  of  what  I  am  to  do  with  Jesus 
is  to  be  settled,  the  time  for  its  right  settlement  is  to-day, 
is  here  and  now,  because  that  is  God's  time.  When  we 
know  what  is  God's  time,  we  should  address  ourselves  to 
it  without  any  delay. 

Why  should  we  settle  this  question  of  what  we  are  to 
do  with  Jesus  to-day — to-day  and  now?  I  have  already 
said  because  it  is  God's  time.  Whenever  we  know  God's 
time,  we  should  adjust  ourselves  to  it,  obediently  and 
promptly.  This  is  God's  time.  He  knows  the  best.  He 
tells  us:  "It  is  good  for  a  man  that  he  bear  the  yoke  in 
his  youth."  He  tells  us:  "Remember  now  thy  Creator 
in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  while  the  evil  days  come  not,  nor 
the  years  draw  nigh,  when  thou  shalt  say,  I  have  no  pleas- 
ure in  them."  This  is  God's  time,  and,  therefore,  my  con- 
cern grows  deeper  every  hour  that  the  young  people  all 
over  the  land  may  come  to  Jesus  while  yet  they  are  young. 
Oh,  as  surely  as  we  live,  wisdom  has  fled  from  our 
churches,  if  we  do  not  sound  out,  as  we  sound  out  no  other 
note  in  the  world,  that  the  time  in  which  people  are  to  be 
saved  is  in  life's  morning,  and  not  in  life's  evening,  and  not 
in  life's  middle  time.  The  time  is  in  life's  morning.  "Re- 
member now  thy  Creator,  in  the  days  of  thy  youth."  Why? 
He  tells  us :  "While  the  evil  days  come  not,  nor  the  years 
draw  nigh,  when  thou  shalt  say,  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
them."  The  time  for  us  to  come  to  Christ,  oh,  my  young 
people,  happy  boys  and  girls,  happy,  hopeful  young  men 
and  v/omen,  the  time  for  us  to  come  is  in  life's  morning, 
because  that  it  is  the  habit-forming  time  in  life.  Our  habits 
shall  be  crystallized  soon.  I  have  seen  many  people  when 
they  were  converted  to  Christ  and  confessed  Him  publicly 


190  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

before  the  people,  and  yet  just  a  few  have  I  ever  seen 
who  came  to  Christ  when  the  white  hair  was  about  their 
temples — ^just  a  few.  I  spoke  a  little  Avhile  ago  to  some 
1200  Christian  men,  a  few  over  1200  by  actual  count — 
just  Christian  men — a  special  message  I  was  asked  to  give 
for  Christian  m_en — and  I  asked  that  group  of  a  little  over 
1200  Christian  men:  "How  many  of  you  came  to  Christ 
after  you  were  forty-five  years  of  age?"  How  many  do 
you  suppose  stood  up?  Only  three  after  they  were  forty- 
five.  "How  many  of  you  came  after  you  were  forty?" 
Thirteen.  "How  many  of  you  came  after  you  were  thirty 
years  of  age?"  Less  than  fifty.  "How  many  of  you  came 
to  Christ  before  you  were  twenty-one?"  And  over  1100 
stood  to  their  feet,  saying:  "We  came  to  Christ  before 
we  were  twenty-one." 

Oh,  it  is  God's  counsel  for  us  to  gather  into  His  fold 
the  happy  young  people  in  the  morning  of  life !  It  is  God's 
time.  It  is  the  habit-forming  time.  They  are  forming  their 
habits  quickly  now.  Life  is  plastic  now.  Life  is  renascent 
now,  responsive  now,  malleable  now.  After  awhile  it  will 
be  set  in  its  ways.  The  adage  comes  in  just  there  which 
says:  "As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inclined."  You  can 
go  and  bend  down  the  little  bushes  and  swing  them  this 
way  and  that,  but  in  after  years  you  may  go  back,  and 
there  are  the  strong,  stalwart  trees,  which  will  bend  neith- 
er this  way  nor  that.  They  are  set  at  last,  fixed  at  last, 
by  the  fearful  power  of  habit  and  growth.  That  is  the 
parable  and  picture  of  human  life.  Oh,  ye  parents!  Oh, 
ye  teachers !  God's  time  is  for  us  to  win  the  young  people 
to  Him  while  yet  they  are  young. 

The  story  goes  that  a  certain  king  once  ordered  one  of 
his  subjects  to  make  him  a  chain,  and  the  blacksmith  went 
and  made  the  chain  a  certain  length,  according  to  the 
order  of  the  king.  And  when  the  blacksmith  brought  the 
chain  to  him,  the  king  ordered  him  to  go  back  and  make 
the  chain  twice  as  long,  and  the  blacksmith  obeyed  him 
and  brought  back  the  chain  twice  as  long.  Once  again 
the  king  bade  the  workman  to  take  the  chain  and  make  it 
still  twice  as  long.  And  the  blacksmith  obeyed  him,  and 
brought  the  chain  to  the  king,  and  the  king  said  to  an- 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?      191 

other  subject,  or  other  subjects:  "Take  this  man  and  wrap 
him  in  this  chain,  and  bind  him  and  destroy  him."  Now, 
that  is  the  parable  and  picture  of  habit.  Satan  does  his 
best  to  keep  these  boys  and  girls,  and  young  men  and 
women,  from  coming  to  Christ  in  life's  early  morning.  He 
is  forging  that  chain  of  habit  longer  and  heavier,  tighter 
and  stronger,  every  day,  and  the  years  pass  on,  and  habit 
tightens,  and  its  ceils  grow  closer  about  the  people,  until 
at  last  they  seem  set  and  fixed  in  their  ways,  and  little  is 
the  probability,  far  out  in  life,  that  they  will  ever  come  to 
Christ  at  all.  God's  time  is  while  they  are  young.  I  have 
already  said  it  is  the  useful  time — and  we  want  to  be  useful. 
One  little  life  we  have  down  here — forty  years  or  fifty  years, 
or  more  or  less.  Why  live  it  at  all,  if  we  are  not  going  to 
live  it  in  the  right  way?  We  will  be  cumberers  of  the 
grourxi;  we  will  not  only  hurt  ourselves,  but  we  will  hurt 
everybody  else,  if  we  live  this  life  in  the  wrong  way.  One 
little  life  to  live!  Oh,  the  glory  of  living  it  in  the  most 
useful  fashion,  which  cannot  be  unless  we  are  honestly 
for  Jesus  Christ. 

There  is  yet  another  word  to  be  urged  upon  you :  You 
should  come  to  Jesus  now,  and  rightly  settle  this  question 
of  what  you  will  do  with  Jesus  now,  because  now  is  the 
safe  time.  Now  might  be  the  only  time.  I  think  I  had 
better  stress  that  for  a  moment,  and  stress  it  even  for  the 
young  people  who  sit  in  this  audience,  looking  up  into  my 
face,  and  listening  so  attentively,  along  with  the  older  peo- 
ple. The  matter  of  coming  to  Christ  should  be  settled 
now  because  now  is  the  safe  time,  and  now  might  be  the 
only  time. 

May  I  tell  you  about  preaching  to  my  own  young  peo- 
ple a  special  sermon  some  time  ago,  one  morning,  to  the 
Sunday  school?  The  doors  were  shut,  so  that  the  Sunday 
school  would  not  be  disturbed,  and  I  preached  a  sermon 
of  some  twenty-five  minutes  to  the  younger  people  there, 
and  when  I  had  finished  I  asked  who  was  ready  then  and 
there  to  decide  for  Christ?  When  I  asked  that,  I  said:  'T 
want  all  such  to  come  and  take  my  hand,  those  of  you 
who  are  ready  now  to  say  'Yes'  to  Jesus,  who  will  trust 
Him,  that  from  this  morning  He  may  be  your  Savior." 


192  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

And  numbers  and  numbers  of  the  young  people  came,  and 
along  with  that  group  came  one  of  our  girls,  some  twelve 
or  thirteen  years  of  age,  a  serious  and  beautiful  child. 
Soon  the  service  was  concluded,  and  the  day  went  by,  and 
the  week  went  by,  and  I  stood  in  my  pulpit  the  following 
Sunday  morning,  and  when  I  had  concluded  the  sermon 
at  the  regular  eleven  o'clock  service,  a  man  came  from 
the  outer  door  through  my  study,  and  touched  me,  and 
said :  "Before  you  go  to  your  luncheon,  you  are  wanted  to 
go  to  Nellie's  home.  They  are  going  to  take  her  to  the 
hospital.  She  is  desperately  ill,  and  she  wants  to  see  you 
before  she  goes  to  the  hospital."  "Certainly,"  I  said,  "I 
will  go  with  you  right  now."  I  went  with  him  speedily 
to  the  home  where  Nellie  lived,  and  there  she  was  waiting 
to  see  me  before  they  carried  her  in  the  ambulance  to  the 
hospital  for  the  serious  surgical  operation.  When  I  sat 
down  beside  her  I  said :  "What  do  you  want  to  say  to  me, 
Nellie?"  She  drew  her  handkerchief  over  her  face,  as  if 
to  conceal  the  soft  tears  that  bedewed  her  cheeks,  and  I 
waited  so  that  she  could  take  her  time  and  say  what  she 
wanted  to  say  to  me  in  her  own  way.  "What  have  you 
got  to  say  to  me,  my  child?"  I  said  again.  And  then  she 
said:  "I  don't  know  that  I  will  come  back  from  the  hos- 
pital. I  am  very  sick."  I  said:  "Well,  Nellie,  what  if 
you  should  not  come  back?"  And  she  said:  "That  is  just 
what  I  want  to  talk  with  you  about.  If  I  do  not  come 
back — and  something  tells  me  that  perhaps  I  won't — if  I 
do  not  come  back,  I  want  you  to  know  that  it  is  all  right, 
and  I  want  you  to  tell  my  Sunday  school  class  of  girls,  if 
I  do  not  come  back,  that  I  was  not  afraid.  I  want  you  to 
tell  them  that  on  last  Sunday,  when  you  preached  to  the 
girls  and  boys,  I  decided  for  Christ,  and  I  am  following 
Him;  I  am  trusting  Him.  I  said  'Yes'  to  Him  last  Sun- 
day, and  meant  it,  and  if  I  do  not  come  back,  I  want  you 
to  tell  the  girls  in  my  class  that  I  went  away  and  was  not 
afraid,  because  I  had  decided  for  Christ."  I  said :  "I  hope 
you  will  come  back  all  right,  Nellie,  but  I  am  glad  to  hear 
you  say  all  that,  my  child,  and  Vv^e  will  be  praying  for 
you.  I  will  pray  for  you  now,  and  then  I  will  be  thinking 
of  you  this  afternoon  and  to-night."    The  day  wore  away 


WHAT  SHOULD  WE  DO  WITH  JESUS?      193 

and  the  night  came  on,  and  I  preached  in  the  evening  and 
went  back  to  my  home,  and  at  midnight  word  came  from 
the  hospital,  saying:  "Nellie  desires  to  see  you  very 
much."  I  said :  "Certainly ;  I  will  be  there  very  soon,"  and 
very  soon  I  was  there.  Things  had  all  gone  to  the  bad 
with  her,  and  her  pulse  galloped  like  some  runaway  horse. 
I  sat  beside  her,  and  said:  "What  have  you  to  say  now, 
Nellie?"  And  she  said:  "I  cannot  go  back  home,  and  I 
caanot  get  back  to  the  Sunday  school  and  to  church  any 
more,  and  I  want  to  ask  you  again  to  tell  the  girls  in  my 
class  that  I  was  not  afraid,  that  I  was  ready,  because  when 
you  preached  a  week  ago,  saying:  'Now  is  the  accepted 
time  to  decide  for  Christ,'  I  said :  'It  shall  be  my  time.' " 
Wasn't  it  a  glorious  thing  that  I  could  tell  the  people  that 
a  little  girl  of  a  dozen  years,  when  she  heard  Jesus  saying: 
"Now  is  my  time  for  you  to  come  to  me,  now  is  the  best 
time,  now  is  the  safe  time,  now  might  be  the  only  time," 
a  little  timid  girl  said:  "It  shall  be  my  time.  I  will  sur- 
render to  Jesus,  and  trust  Him  now  and  forever  to  be  my 
Savior?" 

I  am  coming  in  a  moment  to  the  close  of  the  sermon, 
but  I  have  a  question  to  ask  you,  before  you  leave  the 
tent  to-night.  What  have  you  done  with  Jesus?  What 
will  you  do  with  Him?  Do  you  say:  "I  am  ready  to- 
night to  trust  Christ;  I  am  ready  to-night  to  do  the  right 
thing  with  Christ;  I  am  ready  to-night  to  answer  that 
question  properly,  *What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus?'  I 
will  take  Him  for  my  Savior ;  I  will  be  for  Him  from  this 
hour,  and  no  longer  will  I  be  against  Him?"  Then  come 
and  tell  us  of  that  great  decision,  as  now  we  sing. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now  as  we  go,  we  pray  thee,  our  Father,  to  put  thy  gracious  favor  upon 
these  who  publicly  confess  their  acceptance  of  Christ  as  their  personal  Savior, 
and  let  them  go  to  live  for  Christ  like  the  Christian  life  ought  always  and  every- 
where to  be  lived.  And,  O,  put  thy  Spirit  profoundly  upon  those  who  desired 
thus  to  come  but  have  held  back.  Show  them  how  great  a  matter  this  is,  how 
eternally  and  urgently  important  a  matter  this  is,  of  doing  the  right  thiug  with 
Christ,  and  for  Him.  And  may  these  young  people — how  we  covet  them  every 
one  for  Christ,  from  the  morning  of  their  lives — may  tiaey  all  and  each  from  this 
night  forward  faithfully  trust  Christ,  and  follow  Him  in  all  His  appointed  ways 
for  His  friends.  And  all  through  this  city,  deepen  thou,  we  beseech  thee,  the 
interest  in  all  our  hearts  to  be  and  to  do  in  thy  sight  accprding  to  the  counsel 
of  thy  holy  will.  How  we  bless  thee  for  thy  goodness  and  mercy  to  us  1  Let 
such  goodness  cause  us  daily  to  be  more  zealous   for  our   Lord. 

And  now  as  the  people  firp,  may  the  blessing-  of  the  triune  God  be  granted 
you,  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Amen. 


XIV 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  19,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

A  series  of  daily,  special  meetings,  such  as  these  now 
in  progress,  are  vitally  important  for  God's  people  —  for 
those  who  are  already  Christians.  Such  meetings  are  pre- 
eminently worth  while,  indeed,  are  altogether  necessary 
now  and  then,  for  God's  own  people,  for  it  is  easy  for  Chris- 
tians to  drift,  and  to  have  their  habits  in  the  Christian  life 
broken,  and  to  go  down  life's  stream,  failing  to  give  worthy 
testimony  for  Christ,  and  at  the  same  time  missing  the 
peace  and  the  power  which  ought  to  be  in  the  Christian 
life.  Meetings  like  these  are  often  necessary  for  Chris- 
tians, to  summon  us,  to  challenge  us,  to  bring  us  back 
where  we  shall  have  our  spiritual  strength  renewed  and 
made  deeper  and  larger.  But  we  should  not  be  content, 
as  Christians,  that  the  meetings  shall  be  limited  to  that. 
We  should  look  about  ourselves  daily,  and  give  ourselves 
to  serious  thought  and  service  for  others.  We  should  put 
forth  our  efforts  in  the  most  thoughtful  and  diligent  way 
to  help  those  about  us  w^ho  are  not  Christians.  What  oppor- 
tunities we  have  in  a  modern  city  like  this — what  opportun- 
ities to  help  daily  those  who  are  not  Christians!  Most  of 
the  men  and  women  before  me  this  Tuesday  noon,  I  take 
it,  are  Christian  men  and  women.  My  heart  would  be  pro- 
foundly warmed,  if  I  could  believe  and  be  assured  that 
every  Christian  here  to-day  would  do  his  or  her  best  to-day 
and  to-morrow,  and  from  day  to  day  to  help  those  about 

194 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST      195 

you  who  are  not  Christians.  You  should  not  neglect  any- 
body. The  humblest,  the  poorest,  the  lowest,  the  tallest 
man  in  town  should  each  be  spoken  to,  in  the  proper  fash- 
ion, concerning  his  personal  relations  to  God.  The  woman 
most  needy,  the  most  neglected,  the  most  capable,  the  most 
devoted  to  the  social  world,  should  each  be  appealed  to,  and 
every  such  life  sought  for  the  side  and  service  of  Jesus. 
Do  I  raise  an  unreasonable  question  when  I  raise  the  ques- 
tion if  every  Christian  before  me  cannot  and  will  not  make 
it  a  point  to  bring  with  you  to-night  to  the  big  tent,  a 
group  of  people  who  are  not  Christians?  And  if  it  could 
not  be  a  group,  couldn't  you  find  one  person,  and  when 
you  find  that  person,  and  bring  that  person  with  you,  prob- 
ably sitting  beside  him  or  her — that  can  be  determined  in 
each  case,  as  may  be  deemed  best — pray  as  you  bring  such 
person,  that  the  preacher  may  speak  what  and  as  he  ought 
to  speak  to  help  that  person?  We  are  not  to  get  away 
from  that  scriptural  truth  that  "faith  cometh  by  hearing, 
and  hearing,  by  the  Word  of  God."  I  ask  it  most  earnestly, 
my  fellow  Christians,  if  you  will  not,  all  and  each,  make 
it  a  point  to  bring  with  you  to-night  a  group  of  people,  or, 
if  not  a  group,  then  one  person  not  a  Christian,  to  the 
daily  services?  How  delighted  we  are  to  see  these  great 
throngs  of  Christians  at  the  public  services,  the  largest 
proportion  of  Christians,  I  think,  that  I  ever  saw  in  public 
services !  But  how  deeply  desirous  we  are  that  the  Chris- 
tians shall  bring  with  them  from  service  to  service  those 
that  are  not  Christians !  How  we  long  to  help  them !  We 
would  do  them  good,  and  not  evil  at  all.  "And  they  that 
be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament; 
and  they  that  turn' many  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars  for- 
ever and  forever."  Pay  the  price,  I  pray  you,  to  be  per- 
sonal soul  winners. 

THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST. 

Text:    "Amasiah  who  willingly  oflFered  himself  unto  the  Lord."— II  Chron.  17:  16. 

And  now,  as  I  come  to  speak  this  morning,  I  wonder, 
as  I  look  over  this  throng,  just  how  much  every  life  here 
means  to  the  world.  Would  you  have  your  life  to  count 
for  the  highest  and  the  best?    Then  such  life  cannot  count 


196  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

for  the  highest  and  best  if  it  be  not  yielded  to  the  guidance 
and  mastership  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  a  sen- 
tence in  the  Bible  that  points  this  truth  for  us,  to  which 
our  attention  is  to  be  directed  to-day:  "Amasiah,  who 
willingly  offered  himself  unto  the  Lord." 

You  ask.  Who  was  Amasiah  ?  If  you  will  read  the  con- 
text, you  will  see  that  he  was  the  chief  officer  in  the  reign 
of  good  King  Jehoshaphat.  Next  to  the  king  himself,  this 
man  Amasiah  was  the  first  man  of  the  kingdom.  So  im- 
portant was  he  that  200,000  picked  men  were  put  under 
his  command,  and  Amasiah  stood  next  to  the  king  in  posi- 
tion. Now,  this  important  man,  situated  in  this  eminent 
place,  "willingly  offered  himself  unto  the  Lord." 

It  is  a  glorious  thing  when  men  and  women  of  leader- 
ship are  pronounced  and  positive  friends  of  the  Lord.  It 
is  a  glorious  thing  when  the  outstanding  lawyer  is  the 
modest,  faithful  friend  of  Christ;  and  the  skillful  doctor, 
who  has  such  an  opportunity  to  bless  the  world;  and  the 
patient  teacher,  who  occupies  such  an  eminent  place  of 
responsibility  and  opportunity;  and  the  alert  editor,  like- 
wise strategicall}^  situated  for  wielding  the  most  tremen- 
dous and  commanding  influence;  and  the  aggressive  busi- 
ness man,  with  people  under  him,  whom  he  directs;  and 
on  and  on  and  on,  in  all  realms.  What  a  glorious  thing 
when  people  in  position  of  leadership,  as  was  this  man 
Amasiah,  make  it  a  point  to  be  pronounced  friends  of  God ! 
For  the  most  serious  thing  in  all  the  world,  my  men  and 
women,  is  this  matter  of  personal  influence.  The  most 
significant  thing  about  life  is  for  life  to  be  positionized 
properly,  and  the  most  tragical  thing  about  life  is  for  life 
to  be  positionized  wrongly.  Day  in  and  day  out,  by  the 
quiet  emanation  of  our  influence,  we  are  taking  people  up, 
or  we  are  dragging  people  down.  Glorious  then  is  it,  be- 
yond words,  when  a  man  or  a  woman  is  the  known,  posi- 
tive, faithful  friend  of  Christ! 

Let  the  example  of  this  man  Amasiah  teach  us  to-day. 
There  are  two  or  three  simple,  but  greatly  important  les- 
sons in  his  story,  that  we  may  well  study  this  morning. 
First,  Amasiah  put  God's  cause  as  the  first  thing  in  his 
life.     Surely,  that  was  right.    Where  should  he  have  put 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST      197 

it?  Where  should  the  men  and  women  before  me  this 
Tuesday  noon  put  God's  cause?  We  must  put  it  some- 
where. We  must  give  it  some  place.  We  do  give  it  some 
place.  Where  should  we  put  God's  cause,  in  our  personal, 
every-day  life?  Now,  we  take  often  the  most  superficial 
view,  as  we  face  that  question. 

I  saw  a  symposium  a  little  while  ago  in  one  of  the 
clever  magazines,  where  answers  were  given  to  the  ques- 
tion: "What  is  the  great  need  for  the  church  to-day?" 
The  answers  given  to  that  question  were  ludicrous,  for 
the  most  part,  if  the  matters  talked  about  had  not  been 
so  serious.  One  gave  as  his  answer:  "The  great  need  for 
the  church,  to-day,  is  that  it  shall  have  larger  numbers." 
Surely,  he  missed  it  widely.  Never  one  time  does  God 
put  the  emphasis  on  numbers.  Indeed,  we  are  distinctly 
warned  in  the  Bible,  both  by  direct  statement  and  by  im- 
plication, concerning  the  snare  that  there  is  in  numbers. 
David  of  old  took  the  census  of  the  kingdoms  of  Israel 
and  Judea,  and  plunged  the  nations  into  the  direst  disas- 
ter, because  while  taking  his  census,  he  and  his  people 
took  their  eyes  away  from  God,  and  down  the  people  went 
into  the  ditch  of  disaster.  It  is  not  how  many  we  count 
that  tells,  but  how  much  do  we  weigh?  It  is  not  quantity 
that  tells,  but  quality.  It  is  not  duration  that  tells,  but  in- 
tensity. Once  when  Henry  Drummond  was  holding  an 
institute  for  a  group  of  Christian  men,  following  his  ad- 
dress he  gave  a  quiz  for  the  men,  and  presently  one  of  them 
asked:  "Mr.  Drummond,  isn't  the  first  need  of  Christian- 
ity to-day  that  it  shall  have  more  men  behind  it?"  And 
quick  as  a  flash  the  keen  man  made  answer:  "No,  not 
more  men,  but  a  better  brand."  Jesus  cannot  command 
big  situations  with  little  people.  I  dare  to  affirm  to-day 
that  Jesus  is  most  of  all  hindered  by  little  people,  and, 
therefore,  there  comes  the  ringing  challenge  of  the  Bible : 
"Quit  you  like  men" — not  like  fops,  not  like  dandies,  not 
like  prigs  —  "quit  you  like  men."  Jesus  waits  for  the 
strength,  the  robustness,  the  masculinity,  the  power,  the 
personality  of  men  laid  on  His  altar,  to  win  victories  that 
shall  shake  the  world. 

Then,  in   that  same   symposium  to  which   T  have  re- 


198  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ferred,  one  made  answer  that  the  great  need  for  Christ's 
cause  is  that  it  should  have  more  money.  That  answer  is 
as  wide  of  the  mark  as  is  the  first.  Nowhere  in  the  Bible 
does  the  emphasis  fall  upon  money  as  the  chief  requisite 
for  the  triumph  of  God's  cause.  Money  is  a  powerful  fac- 
tor everywhere,  in  religion  as  well  as  in  the  daily  affairs 
of  men.  I  have  no  sympathy  at  all  with  that  outcry  that 
is  sometimes  heard  against  money,  against  men  who  make 
money,  against  men  who  have  money.  It  is  the  cry  of  the 
thoughtless,  and  sometimes  of  the  anarchist,  and  for  it  I 
have  no  sympathy.  A  man  who  can  make  money  ought  to 
make  it,  legitimately,  to  be  sure,  honestly,  rising  early  in 
the  morning  and  toiling  late  at  night.  But  as  men  make 
money,  they  are  to  remember  that  challenging  word  spoken 
by  Moses,  when  he  said:  "But  thou  shalt  remember  the 
Lord  thy  God;  for  it  is  He  that  giveth  thee  power  to  get 
wealth."  We  are  to  remember  that  money  is  to  be  a  serv- 
ant, and  not  to  be  our  master  at  all.  I  can  quite  well  un- 
derstand how  a  certain  rich  woman  in  the  country  felt 
awhile  ago,  when  she  lay  a-dying,  and  at  last  piteously 
appealed  to  the  physician  to  know  if  that  were  death  that 
she  was  then  facing,  and  had  his  answer  that  it  was.  Then, 
seeking  to  draw  the  covering  about  her  face,  some  who 
were  present  said  that  over  and  over  again  the  rich,  self- 
centered  woman  wailed  out  her  cry:  "Oh,  how  I  dread 
to  meet  God  when  I  remember  how  I  have  trifled  with 
my  money !"  And  well  she  might,  for  she  must  answer  at 
God's  judgment  bar  for  every  dime  that  she  has  had.  Do 
not  be  deceived— money  is  not  the  first  thing  in  the  king- 
dom of  God!  It  is  often  an  unmitigated  curse,  the  lust 
for  which  turns  many  from  the  better  way,  and  pierces 
them  through  with  many  sorrows. 

What  is  the  first  thing  for  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom 
of  God?  It  is  pointed  here  in  the  case  of  this  man  Ama- 
siah.  He  put  God's  cause  as  the  first  thing  in  his  life.  He 
crowned  his  life  by  putting  God's  cause  therein  as  su- 
preme. It  was  tlie  same  kingly  word  said  by  Jesus  long 
afterward,  when  He  preached  His  great  sermon,  saying: 
"But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteous- 
ness; and  all  these  things" — bread  and  meat  and  sufficient 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST      199 

to  wear — "shall  be  added  unto  you."  "Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness."  "Seek  ye  first" — 
not  secondly,  not  thirdly,  not  incidentally,  not  partially, 
not  optionally,  not  in  subordinate  fashion.  Put  "first"  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness,  and  then  you  can 
go  afield  anywhere,  absolutely  assured  that  the  best  thing 
is  going  to  come  to  you. 

Later  along,  that  incomparable  Paul  illustrated  the 
same  truth,  when  he  said :  "To  me  to  live  is  Christ."  Or, 
freely  translated,  he  said:  "For  me  to  live  is  for  Christ 
to  live  over  again."  "That  is  to  say,"  said  Paul,  "in  my 
own  little  life,  the  best  I  can,  I  am  to  reincarnate  the  spirit 
and  teachings  and  purposes  of  Christ,  and  to  live  literally 
for  Him."  "I  am  not  my  own  at  all,"  said  Paul.  "I  am 
Christ's.  I  belong  to  Him  by  a  threefold  claim.  He  cre- 
ated me,  and  then  He  died  for  me,  and  then  He  preserves 
me,  and  I  belong  to  Him  by  that  threefold  claim."  "My 
brain  is  not  mine,"  said  Paul;  "it  is  Christ's.  Let  me 
mind  what  I  do  with  Christ's  brain.  My  hands  are  not 
mine;  they  are  Christ's.  My  feet  are  not  mine;  Christ 
bought  them  with  His  blood.  Let  me  mind  where  I  take 
Christ's  feet.  My  heart  is  not  mine,  but  Christ's.  Let 
me  mind  what  I  love  with  Christ's  heart.  My  life  is  not 
mine,  but  Christ's.  Let  me  see  to  it  that  I  take  Christ's 
life  and  put  it  where,  and  live  it  as  Christ's  life  ought  to 
be  lived," 

Now  this  man  Amasiah  points  that  grandly  telling  les- 
son for  us,  and  he  did  it  in  what  we  call  a  secular  calling. 
He  did  it  yonder  in  the  army,  and  if  there  is  a  difficult 
place,  I  should  judge,  for  men  to  stand  up  and  be  four- 
square for  God,  it  would  be  in  the  army.  And  yet  there, 
this  strong  man  put  God's  cause  first — there  in  the  army — 
which  leads  me  to  say  that  the  distinction  that  we  some- 
times seek  to  make  between  what  we  call  the  "sacred  and 
the  secular"  is  an  improper  distinction.  There  can  be  no 
secularities  in  the  right  kind  of  a  Christian  life.  You  are 
just  as  much  called  to  be  the  right  kind  of  a  Christian  here 
on  Tuesday,  as  you  are  yonder,  Sunday  morning,  in  the 
house  of  God,  with  the  hymn  book  in  your  hand,  lustily 
singing  praises  to  His  name.     And  I  will  dare  to  affirm 


200  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

that  if  Christian  men  and  women  are  going  to  be  more 
careful  and  conscientious  at  one  place  than  another,  then 
out  in  the  market  place,  in  the  shops  and  factories  and 
stores,  in  the  court  house,  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade,  in 
the  circles  where  men  constantly  touch  elbows  with  the 
world,  let  them  there  see  to  it  that  they  are  the  right  kind 
of  Christians.  If  they  are  going  to  make  a  difference  any- 
where, let  the  better  way  have  pre-eminence  out  there,  as 
they  touch  elbows  with  the  world. 

I  see  glimpses,  I  think,  of  that  glorious  day  coming 
when  God's  men  and  women  will,  out  in  the  big  world, 
shine  there  for  Christ  and  witness  there  for  Christ,  so  that 
daily  their  lives  shall  have  increasingly  winning  power 
over  the  world  about  them.  Some  years  ago  it  was  my 
privilege  to  speak  for  ten  days  in  another  state,  in  one 
of  the  largest  and  noblest  of  our  American  churches.  In 
such  congregation  was  the  leading  shoe  man  of  the  world, 
who  was  also  a  devout  Christian.  Morning  by  morning, 
and  night  by  night,  he  was  faithfully  in  his  place  in  the 
meetings.  One  day  as  we  v/ere  going  away  I  asked  him: 
"If  you  should  put  your  life  passion  in  one  sentence,  what 
would  that  sentence  be?"  He  smiled  and  said:  "If  you 
had  come  to  my  office,  like  I  have  asked  you,  you  would 
know,  for  I  have  it  there  in  my  office  on  a  cardboard.  You 
had  better  come  over  and  find  out."  I  went  on  with  him, 
and  presently  we  were  there  in  his  office.  There  was  his 
life  passion,  on  the  cardboard,  in  six  little  words.  Some 
of  these  business  men  have,  perhaps,  been  in  his  office  and 
have  seen  them.  Six  little  words  voiced  his  life  passion. 
If  you  have  been  there,  you  will  recall  them.  Here  they 
are:  "God  first.  Family  second.  Shoes  third."  That  is 
exactly  right.  You  put  it  any  other  way,  and  you  v/ill 
make  trouble.  That  arrangement  is  exactly  right:  "God 
first.  Family  second.  Business  third."  God  first,  before 
father  and  mother  and  dearest  loved  ones.  God  first,  be- 
fore man's  business,  certainly.  Making  a  living  is  a  mere 
incident.  Making  a  life  is  v\^hat  we  are  in  the  world  for. 
God  first,  our  family  second,  and  then  our  daily  task  third. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  of  one  of  the  great  pork 
packers  of  the   Northwest.     One  was  introduced  to  him 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST      201 

one  day  and  did  not  quite  understand  who  he  was,  and 
asked  him  at  once:  "What  is  your  business?"  The  big 
packer  made  answer,  with  modest  face:  "I  am  a  Chris- 
tian, sir.  That  is  my  business."  The  man  questioning 
him' reddened  a  little  in  the  face  and  said:  "You  did  not 
understand.  What  is  your  daily  work?  What  is  your 
main  concern?"  And  the  packer  made  answer,  with  his 
own  face  reddening,  because  he  was  modest,  and  said: 
"My  business,  sir,  is  to  be  a  Christian,  but  I  pack  pork, 
sir  to  pay  the  expenses."  Oh,  men  and  women  before  me, 
our  business  in  this  world  and  life  of  ours  is  to  be  the 
right  kind  of  friends  for  Christ.  That  is  our  one,  supreme 
business.     Amasiah  points  that  lesson  for  us. 

Amasiah  points  a  second  lesson,  to  which  your  atten- 
tion is  briefly  directed.  Our  text  says:  "Amasiah  will- 
ingly offered  himself  unto  the  Lord."  Note  that  carefully. 
See  what  this  man  Amasiah  offered  his  Lord:  "Amasiah 
willingly  offered  himself"  — himself —  to  the  Lord.  And 
that  is  the  supreme  gift.  The  highest  contribution  that 
any  man  or  woman  can  make  to  this  needy  world  is  to 
live  in  it  the  right  kind  of  a  life.  One  Savonarola  turned 
the  tides  of  wicked  Florence.  The  people  said  of  John 
Chrysostom,  that  glorious  preacher  in  Constantinople:  *  It 
were  better  for  the  sun  to  cease  his  shining  than  for  John 
Chrysostom  to  cease  his  preaching."  This  man  Amasiah 
gave  his  life  to  the  Lord.  Now,  there  is  the  crux  of  the 
whole  matter  of  living  the  Christian  life. 

I  go  every  year  to  the  cattlemen  of  the  West,  to  their 
annual  camp  meeting,  and  have  been  thus  going  to  them, 
for  a  week  every  year,  for  fifteen  years.  The  most  inter- 
esting week  I  ever  live,  in  some  respects,  is  that  week; 
and  among  the  most  interesting  men  — the  biggest,  the 
finest,  in  manv  respects,  that  I  have  ever  touched  are 
those  stalwart  men.  Sometime  ago,  when  I  was  out  there^ 
I  preached  to  those  men,  some  1200,  hidden  away  m  a  clitt 
of  the  mountains,  one  morning,  on  the  text :  "Ye  are  not 
your  own.  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price:  therefore,  glorify 
God  in  your  body,  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  God's. 
One  of  those  big  fellows  who  heard  that  day  had  not  been 
a  Christian  long.     When  the  service  was  over  he  locked 


202  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

his  arm  in  mine  and  said:  "Let's  go  for  a  walk.  I  have 
something  serious  to  say  to  you."  We  went  up  the  canyon, 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  away  from  the  camp.  After 
we  started,  he  did  not  say  another  word  for  quite  awhile. 
His  great  chest  rose  and  fell,  as  if  some  seething  furnace 
were  beneath  it,  as,  indeed  there  was.  I  waited  for  him 
to  speak;  I  did  not  venture  to  question  him  at  all.  When 
we  were  a  mile  and  a  quarter  away  from  the  camp,  behind 
a  large  ledge  of  rock,  he  turned  and  faced  me,  and  said: 
"I  want  you  to  pray  a  dedicatory  prayer  for  me."  "What 
do  you  wish  to  dedicate?"  I  asked.  Slowly  he  began  to 
talk,  and  the  tears  began  to  stream  from  his  eyes,  and  he 
said:  "I  did  not  know  until  this  morning  that  all  these 
thousands  of  cattle  that  I  have  called  mine  are  not  mine 
at  all,  but  every  one  belongs  to  Christ.  I  did  not  know 
until  this  morning  that  all  these  miles  and  miles  of  lands 
over  which  my  cattle  have  browsed  are  not  mine  at  all, 
but  that  every  acre  belongs  to  Christ.  You  see,  I  have 
not  been  a  Christian  long,  and  I  do  not  know  much  about 
the  Christian  life.  I  have  learned  to-day,  as  never  before, 
what  the  Christian  life  means.  Now  I  see  that  every  hoof 
of  all  these  thousands  of  cattle  belongs  to  Christ,  and  every 
acre  of  all  these  lands  over  which  they  browse  belongs  to 
Christ,  and  I  want  to  take  my  true  place  in  God's  cause. 
I  want  you  to  tell  God  for  me  that  I  will  be  His  trustee 
from  this  day  on.  I  will  be  His  administrator  on  His  es- 
tate. I  will  try  to  live  from  now  on  like  such  an  adminis- 
trator ought  to  live.  And  when  you  finish  telling  Him 
that  for  me,  you  wait.  I  have  got  something  to  tell  Him 
myself."  We  knelt  there  behind  the  rock,  like  two  chil- 
dren, and  I  said:  "Master,  this  man  bids  me  tell  thee 
thus  and  so,  thus  and  so."  And  he  assented  and  consented, 
while  I  spoke  the  sentences  to  God.  When  T  had  finished 
I  waited,  and  he  put  his  face  down  to  the  ground  and 
sobbed.  I  waited  and  waited,  and  on  and  on  he  sobbed, 
and  presently  he  gasped  out  his  prayer.  It  was  this :  "And 
now.  Master,"  he  said,  "am  I  not  in  a  position  to  give  you 
my  bad  boy?  His  mother  and  T  seem  to  have  no  influence 
at  all  over  him,  but  I  have  given  you  my  property  to-day, 
and  I  will  henceforth  be  your  administrator  on  your  estate, 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST     20a 

and  now  won't  you  take  my  boy  in  the  same  way,  and  save 
him,  and  save  him  soon,  for  your  glory  ?"  We  went  back  to 
the  camp,  and  the  day  wore  to  evening,  and  I  stood  up 
again  to  preach  to  the  men.  Nor  had  I  spoken  fifteen 
minutes  until  that  wild  son,  on  the  outskirts  of  that  crowd, 
stood  up  before  us  all,  came  toward  his  father  sitting  there 
at  the  front,  and  as  he  came  and  as  we  looked,  he  said: 
"Papa,  I  cannot  wait  until  that  man  is  done  his  sermon. 
I  have  decided  for  Christ!"  And  this  Scripture,  that  hour, 
was  plain  to  our  hearts :  "Delight  thyself  also  in  the  Lord  ; 
and  He  shall  give  thee  the  desires  of  thine  heart."  Oh, 
what  power  a  man  has  with  God,  when  such  man  comes 
to  Christ  and  says  to  Him:  "You  can  get  me  for  any 
field,  for  any  journey,  for  any  task,  for  any  duty  that  you 
wish.  Master,  I  am  yours — to  go  and  to  say  and  to  be 
and  to  do,  just  as  thou  wilt."  What  a  power  he  has  in 
the  world! 

Notice  the  text  again:  "Amasiah  offered  himself  will- 
ingly." There  was  no  coercion,  no  conscription,  no  draft- 
ing. He  offered  himself  willingly  to  the  Lord.  Oh,  men, 
my  brothers!  Oh,  women,  my  sisters!  What  a  glorious 
thing  for  men  and  women  to  rise  up  and  say,  without  being 
coaxed  and  coerced  and  compelled  and  drafted  and  con- 
scripted: "Christ  can  get  my  best,  and  I  am  going  to 
give  Him  my  best!"  What  a  power  that  man  or  that 
woman  is  !  What  a  power !  One  of  two  factors  dominates 
every  life.  Either  self  is  the  dominating  factor  in  life,  or 
God.  Mark  it !  The  self-centered  life  is  doomed.  No  mat- 
ter how  brilliant,  how  clever,  how  powerful,  hov/  achiev- 
ing, the  self-centered  life  is  doomed.  That  is  true  of  a 
nation.  The  self-centered  nation  is  going  on  the  rocks. 
That  is  true  of  an  organization.  The  self-centered  organi- 
zation will  finally  collapse  and  be  doomed.  That  is  true 
of  a  family.  No  matter  how  clever  and  brilliant  and  in- 
fluential, if  such  family  be  self-centered,  the  day  of  its 
doom  comes  on.  Even  as  doom  came  to  Lot's  family,  the 
self-centered  home  is  doomed,  no  matter  how  brilliant. 
The  imperial  Gladstone  was  probably  right  when  he  said: 
"Napoleon  had  the  keenest  brain  that  was  ever  packed  into 
a  human  skull."    And  yet  Napoleon  died  like  a  dog  in  the 


204  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ditch,  after  he  had  made  Europe  cower  and  cringe  and 
tremble  before  him.  Why?  He  was  self-centered  in  life 
from  first  to  last.  What  did  he  care  to  walk  with  cruel 
foot  over  the  heart  of  his  beautiful  Josephine?  What  did 
he  care  to  sacrifice  a  hundred  thousand  soldiers,  if  only 
he  could  carry  out  his  self-centered  and  fiendish  ambition? 
The  self-centered  life  is  doomed.  No  matter  what  the  call- 
ing, the  position,  the  power,  the  self-centered  life  is 
doomed.  But  the  life  linked  with  Christ,  the  life  that  says 
*'Yes"  to  Christ,  the  life  that  says:  "Thou,  oh,  Christ, 
canst  have  thy  way  with  me.  Thy  plan  I  wish.  Thy 
program  I  accept.  The  road  thou  wouldst  have  me  travel, 
make  it  plain  to  me  and  I  will  take  it" — that  is  the  life 
victorious.  That  is  the  life  that  wins.  That  is  the  life 
of  glorious  conquest  on  any  field. 

Before  you  leave  this  hall  to-day,  let  me  ask  you,  my 
men  and  women,  if  you  have  fully  settled  it  that  you  want 
Christ's  will  brought  to  pass  in  your  life?  Any  other 
course  has  in  it  regret  and  ever-increasing  distress.  Is 
it  fully  settled  with  you  that  you  want  Christ's  will  brought 
to  pass  in  your  life?  George  MacDonald,  that  sturdy 
Scotchman,  phrased  it  in  his  simple  poem:  "What  I  Said 
and  What  Christ  Said."    Maybe  I  can  quote  his  lines: 

I  said:  "Let  me  walk  in  the  field." 

He   said:    "No,    walk   in   the   town." 
I    said :    "There    are    no   flowers    there." 

He   said:    "No  flowers,  but  a  crown." 

I  said:   "But  the  skies  are  black, 

There   is   nothins?  but  noise   and   din." 
And  He  wept  as  He  sent  me  back : 

"There  is  more,"  He  said,   "there  is  sin." 

I  said:  "But  the  air  is  thick 

And  fogs  are  veiling  the  sun." 
He  said:  "But  hearts  are  sick, 

And  souls  in  the  dark  undone." 

I   said :    "I    shall   miss   the   light. 

And  friends   will  miss  me,   they  say." 

And   He  answered:    "Choose  to-night 
If  I  am  to  miss  you,  or  they." 

I  pleaded  for  time  to  be  giveij.^ 

He   said:   "Is  it  hard  to  decid«? 
It   will    not    seem   hard   in    heaven 

To  have  followed  the  steps  of  your  Guid«l'* 

Then   I  turned  one  look  at  the  field. 

And  set  my  face  to  the  town. 
He   said:    "My   child,   do  you  yield? 

Will  you  leave  the  flowers  for  the  crown?" 


THE  SUPREME  OFFERING  TO  CHRIST      205 

Then  into  His  hand  went  mine. 

And  into  my  heart  came  He, 
And  I    walk  in  a   light  divine 

That  path  I  had  feared  to  see. 

Oh,  my  brother  men,  you  will  miss  it  unspeakably, 
you  will  miss  it  irrevocably,  you  will  miss  it  so  that  memo- 
ries will  burn  and  conscience  will  bite  like  some  devour- 
ing serpent,  if  you  are  not  for  Christ.  Wouldn't  you  like 
publicly  to-day  to  say:  "God  help  me,  I  would  be  for 
Him,  I  will  be  for  Him,  and  to-day  I  yield  myself  to  Him 
to  be  for  Him  till  life's  day  is  done?"  Every  soul  that 
says :    "I  say  that,"  come  tell  us  now,  as  we  sing  the  hymn. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

How  we  thank  thee,  O,  our  Father,  for  thy  marvelous  goodness  to  us  I  We 
go  now  with  a  prayer  deep  and  fervent  to  God,  that  He  will  give  these  men  and 
women  who  confess  Christ  to-day  to  live  for  Him  simply,  honestly,  straightfor- 
wardly, conscientiously,  consistently,  till  the  earthly  day  is  done.  Some  here 
to-day  have  wandered  far  from  God.  Yea,  Lord,  who  in  this  presence  has  not 
wandered?  But  we  want  to  return,  we  would  now  leave  ourselves  in  Christ's 
hands,  like  a  little  child  rests  on  its  mother's  heart.  Forgive  our  every  evil  way, 
O  Lord,  and  fr-om  this  hour  take  us  by  thy  hand  and  guide  us  by  the  counsel 
of  thy  Spiri-t,  so  that  we  shall  go  where,  and  speak  what,  and  live  as  the  great, 
good  Savior  would  ever  have  us  to  do.  And  may  the  soul  in  this  house  all 
wrong  with  God,  bedarkened  and  troubled,  who  has  missed  the  right  way,  has 
wasted  life,  has  wasted  influence,  be  taught  of  thee  that  it  is  not  too  late  yet 
to  be  reconciled  to  God.  Speak  to  such  now  and  say  to  that  one  that  God  will 
forgive  him,  and  will  put  his  feet  in  a  sure  place,  and  God  will  help  him  to  be 
strong  and  true,  and  right,  and  safe,  if  only  he  will  surrender  his  life  to  Jesus, 
the   welcoming  Savior  and   Lord. 

And  now  may  this  whole  multitude  go  to-day  to  speak  as  they  ought  for 
Christ,  to-day  and  every  day,  and  to  give  His  cause  their  best  love  and  loyalty 
and  strength  as  long  as  they  shall  live  in  the  flesh. 

Keep  us,  O  thon  covenant-keeping  God,  in  the  love  of  Christ,  and  faithful 
to  His  holy  will,  till  the  day  is  done.    Wc  pray  in  His  all-prevaiHng  name.    Amen. 


XV 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  19,  1917_. 
PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

A  letter  has  just  been  handed  me  from  a  mother,  who 
says  she  has  been  attending  these  services,  and  has  re- 
ceived a  large  blessing  from  them.  She  says  in  the  letter 
that  her  son  is  away  in  the  training  camp,  getting  ready 
to  respond  to  the  country's  call  to  war,  and  she  greatly 
desires  the  prayers  of  the  Christian  people  here  assembled, 
for  the  salvation  of  that  son.  I  can  well  believe  from 
what  she  says  about  him  in  the  letter  that  he  is,  indeed, 
a  noble  son,  the  pride  and  joy  of  his  mother's  heart.  It 
will  surely  be  a  proper  thing  for  us  now  to  pray  for  him, 
and  for  all  the  other  sons  who  have  gone  out  from  this 
community,  like  him,  in  response  to  the  country's  call.  I 
would  pause  just  here  to  ask  if  there  are  other  parents 
present,  whose  sons  have  gone  away  to  the  training  camps 
to  make  ready  to  serve  the  nation  in  this  world  crisis? 
We  will  unite  our  prayers  in  just  a  moment  for  those  sons. 

I  wonder  if  there  are  not  parents  all  through  this 
great  throng,  who  have  sons  and  daughters  who  are  not 
saved.  I  should  like  to  ask  every  parent  present,  father 
and  mother,  for  whose  unsaved  child  or  children  you 
would  like  to  ask  for  prayer,  along  with  these  that  have 
just  been  mentioned,  the  soldier  boys  that  are  away  from 
home;  every  parent  in  this  midst,  who  has  a  child  not  a 
Christian,  whom  you  would  see  saved  in  God's  time  and 
way,  to  stand  quietly  this  moment.     Many  are  standing. 

206 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  207 

One  eye  sees  and  knows  all  that  is  represented  by  this 
standing  multitude.  The  Lord  teach  us  to  pray  I  May 
we  pray  now,  with  heads  bowed. 

THE  OPENING  PRAYER. 

Just  because  we  need  thee,  O  thou  great  and  gracious  Father,  we  would  call 
upon  thee  yet  again,  before  the  message  of  the  hour  is  to  be  brought  to  the 
people.  We  would  be  in  thy  presence  here,  waiting  upon  thee,  just  as  thou 
wouldst  have  us.  We  would  turn  from  every  evil  way.  We  would  follow  the 
Lord  just  as  He  points  the  way  and  from  this  very  moment. 

And  now  we  would  unite  our  prayers  for  all  our  soldier  boys,  who  have 
gone  from  us  in  response  to  the  nation's  call.  Lord,  shield  them  from  evil  and 
so  teach  them  concerning  the  things  of  God  that  they  shall  be  God's  men,  the 
soldiers  and  friends  of  the  great  Savior,  living  for  Him,  loving  Him,  and  following 
Him  where'er  they  may  be  called  in  response  to  His  will.  May  those  who  are 
now  Christ's  friends  be  better  friends  to  Him  every  day,  and  in  thus  serving  Him 
may  they  bless  their  comrades  with  eternal  blessing.  And  may  all  thoee  who 
are  not  Christ's  friends — those  represented  by  parents  here  to-night  and  similar 
sons  throughout  our  great  country — we  pray  that  upon  them  all  may  be  brought 
to  bear  such  worthy  Christian  influences  that  every  one  of  them  shall  be  speedily 
won  to  Christ,  and  then  go  to  live  for  Him  with  all  the  fulness  and  usefulness 
of  the  Christian  life.  In  these  unusually  anxious  and  responsible  days,  may  all 
these  young  men  be  taught  of  the  Lord  and  find  their  strength  in  His  control. 

We  beseech  thee  to  look  with  favor  upon  all  these  parents  to-night,  who  have 
witnessed  to  the  fact  that  they  have  some  chiki  dear  to  their  hearts  who  is  out 
of  the  ark  of  safety.  O,  first  of  all  we  pray  thee  to  bless  these  parents  I  In  their 
own  hearts,  give  them  all  and  each  to  be  right  with  God.  If  any  parent  has 
come  short  of  duty  in  the  training  of  the  child,  may  such  parent  set  about  from 
this  very  minute  to  redeem  the  time,  to  pursue  the  wisest  possible  course  in  the 
immediate  future,  so  that  the  best  shall  come  to  the  child.  Oh,  we  pray  that 
the  immeasurably  solemn  responsibility  of  parenthood  may  be  borne  in  upon  us 
all,  so  that  all  parents  in  this  presence  shall  address  themselves,  with  all  sincerity 
and  diligence  and  devotion,  to  advise  and  to  lead  and  to  pray  for  and  help  their 
children  in  the  highest  way,  even  in  that  way  which  shall  have  God's  approvaL 

Speak,  we  pray  thee.  Lord,  to  the  waiting  multitude.  Search  our  hearts. 
Deepen  within  us  the  sense  of  eternal  things.  Oh,  deepen  within  us  the  sense 
of  the  value  of  time,  and  the  mighty  meaning  of  personal  influence,  of  personal 
responsibility.  Write  the  lesson  deeply  in  our  every  heart  that  each  man  is  his 
brother's  keeper,  and  that  if  we  neglect,  and  evil  comes  to  such  brother,  God 
shall  require  his  blood  at  our  hands.  Oh,  let  us  see  what  a  great  thing  it  is  to 
live — to  live  in  that  high  way,  in  that  sublimely  faithful  way,  that  God  com- 
mands and  that  the  interests  of  humanity  about  us  so  imperiously  demand. 

God  be  gracious  to  us  now!  Without  thee  we  can  do  nothing.  It  is  not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  thy  Spirit,  O  Lord,  that  these  blessed  things  are 
done  for  the  children  of  men.  We  would  not  put  our  confidence  for  one  moment 
in  arms  of  flesh.  We  would  put  it  altogether  in  the  living  God.  May  He  take 
us  by  the  hand,  and  wield  the  service  to-night  as  He  wishes.  May  He  give  the 
preacher  to  speak  what  and  as  Christ  would  have  him  speak.  May  the  people's 
hearts  be  opened  divinely,  so  that  they  shall  hear  and  respond  just  as  Christ 
would  have  this  multitude  to  hear  and  respond.  Find  us  to-night,  O  Lord,  every 
one  of  us  who  has  come  to  these  pews.  Oh,  find  us,  heart  by  heart,  and  life  by 
life,  and  incline  us  to  the  upper  and  better  way.  If  duty  has  been  sadly  neglected, 
may  we  be  unwilling  from  to-night  to  continue  in  such  neglect.  If  backslidings 
hold  Christians  here,  may  they  now  rise  up  with  a  high  resolve  and  come  back 
to  Christ.  If  men  and  women  have  long  halted  between  two  opinions,  whether 
to  come  to  Christ  or  wait  longer,  may  they  put  away  the  matter  of  waiting  and 
come  now.  May  the  boys  and  girls  of  tender  years — how  we  love  them  and 
would  commend  every  one  of  them  to  Jesus — may  they  to-night  be  unwilling 
longer  to  wait  to  say  yes  to  Christ.  And  may  God's  will,  whatever  that  is, 
wherever  that  leads,  whatever  that  costs,  be  done  by  us  all,  throughout  the 
entire   servic*  to-night.     For   Christ's  sake.     Amen. 

THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY 

Text:    "He   lingered."— Gen.    19:16. 

Deeper  than  any  words  I  can  say  may  indicate  is  the 


208  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

desire  of  my  heart  so  to  speak  that  I  may  help  the  people. 
No  other  concern  have  I,  in  speaking  in  Fort  Worth,  or 
speaking  anywhere  else,  if  I  am  able  to  read  my  heart. 
I  would  do  the  people  good,  and  not  evil  at  all.  The  long- 
ing is  ever  present  with  me,  and  inexpressible,  that  the 
people  may  have  the  crown  and  climax  of  life,  which  is 
true  religion.  That  was  a  pungent  thing  a  little  boy  said 
to  his  father:  "Papa,  is  your  soul  insured?"  "Why  do 
you  ask,  my  boy?"  "Because  I  heard  Uncle  George  say 
that  you  had  your  life  insured,  and  your  house  insured, 
but  he  was  afraid  that  you  would  lose  your  soul,  because 
you  seemed  to  have  no  thought  for  your  soul.  Papa,  won't 
you  get  it  insured  right  away?"  The  little  fellow  fired  a 
center  shot  when  he  asked  that  question.  How  true  it  is 
that  men  and  women  do  insure  their  lives,  and  insure  their 
houses,  as  they  ought,  and  sometimes  insure  autos,  and 
yet  the  eternal  claims  of  the  soul  are  passed  recklessly 
by.  That  question  asked  needs  ever  to  ring  in  our  ears: 
"What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  What  does  it  count,  if  a 
man  shall  rise  high  in  the  world  of  business,  or  in  the 
world  of  statecraft,  or  in  the  word  social  and  intellectual, 
if  such  man  forgets  to  give  heed  to  the  highest  claim  of 
all,  and  lives  and  dies  without  the  favor  of  God,  and  with- 
out conserving  the  welfare  of  the  soul?  What  does  it  all 
matter?  How  solemn  is  the  thought  that  men  and  women 
come  to  public  worship  like  this,  and  hear  and  feel  and 
think  and  desire,  and  yet  through  the  power  of  delay  miss 
the  upward  way,  and  lose  that  which  is  of  eternal  value. 
The  text  points  such  a  case  as  that.  You  need  not  forget 
the  text.  It  may  be  easily  remembered,  because  there  are 
just  two  words  in  it:    "He  lingered." 

It  describes  the  conduct  of  a  man  whose  name  was 
Lot,  who  occupied  wrong  relations,  and  God  sent  angels 
to  warn  him  to  cease  from  such  wrong  relations,  and  pur- 
sue the  right  path  —  the  path  of  importance  and  wisdom 
and  safety  for  himself  and  others.  And  yet,  though  he 
was  warned  faithfully  by  God's  messengers,  there  stands 
out  the  ominous  signboard  in  his  life,  on  which  are  writ- 
ten two  little  words:     "He  lingered." 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  209 

Evidently,  this  man  Lot  is  the  exact  counterpart  of 
men  and  women  in  every  community  where  the  gospel  is 
preached.  Faithfully  are  they  told  of  their  danger  and 
their  duty.  They  are  warned  concerning  the  peril  that 
there  is  in  lingering.  And  yet  they  wait  and  presume  and 
float  down  the  current,  until  at  last  all  that  is  highest  and 
safest  and  best  has  been  forfeited  and  lost.  I  wonder,  as 
I  begin  to  speak  on  this  admonitory  theme,  if  in  this  large 
press  of  people  this  evening  I  am  speaking  to  men  and 
women,  to  parents,  to  middle-aged  men  and  women,  to 
older  ones  with  the  gray  about  their  temples,  to  young 
men  and  women,  to  happy-hearted  boys  and  girls,  who 
are  lingering  concerning  the  highest  things,  when  duty  and 
safety  and  need  and  right  and  happiness  and  usefulness 
would  urge  them  to  cease  such  lingering.  If  I  speak  to 
some  who  are  lingering  to-night  with  regard  to  the  highest 
and  all-important  matters,  oh,  for  you  would  I  send  out 
my  most  earnest  entreaty,  and  to  God  would  I  lift  up  my 
heart,  that  your  lingering  may  cease,  and  cease  before 
too  much  has  been  lost — ^yea,  before  all  has  been  lost. 

This  case  of  Lot  has  in  it  many  lessons,  but  two  or 
three  emerge  from  the  story,  to  which  I  would  now  call 
your  attention.  May  the  Divine  Spirit  help  me,  and  may 
He  help  you,  that  speaker  and  people  alike  may  do  God's 
will  in  this  service !  You  will  notice,  first  of  all,  what  this 
man  Lot  did.  One  little  word  describes  it.  He  "lingered." 
After  he  knew  his  duty  and  had  been  told  of  his  danger, 
yet  he  "lingered."  That  is  Satan's  supreme  masterpiece 
with  which  to  deceive  and  to  destroy  mankind.  It  lurks 
in  the  little  word  "linger."  Satan's  supreme  scheme  to 
blind  men  and  women  and  mislead  them,  and  seduce  them 
from  the  right  path,  and  utterly  defeat  them  and  destroy 
them,  is  stated  in  that  one  little  word,  "linger." 

One  who  had  fearful  melancholia  dreamed  that  he  died 
and  went  away  to  that  world  of  waste  and  loss  and  night, 
the  name  of  which  is  hell,  and  that  down  there  he  saw 
and  heard  the  conclave  of  evil  spirits  in  that  world  of 
waste,  as  these  evil  spirits  counselled  and  plotted  how 
they  might  best  destroy  the  world  of  surging  people,  who 
had  not  yet  died.     And  in  his  dream,  he  said,  one  pro- 


210  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

posed :  "Let  us  go  back  to  the  world  and  say  everywhere : 
'There  is  no  God/  And  if  we  can  get  that  fixed  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  people,  that  there  is  no  God,  we 
will  have  them  utterly  unanchored  and  at  sea,  and  we 
shall  destroy  them."  But  the  other  evil  spirits  answered 
in  a  chorus:  "We  cannot  win  with  that."  The  fool  hath 
said  in  his  heart,  "No  God."  And,  oh,  what  a  foolish  per- 
son he  is!  It  would  be  far  more  reasonable  for  you  to 
say  that  this  watch,  with  its  machinery,  all  regular  and 
orderly,  just  happened,  than  for  you  to  say  that  this 
great  world,  with  its  order  and  symmetry  and  harmony, 
peopled  with  living,  rational,  human  beings,  just  happened, 
and  that  no  God  was  behind  all  and  the  Creator  of  all. 
So  the  evil  spirit  said :    "We  cannot  win  with  that  theory." 

And  then  another  one  proposed:  "Let  us  go  back 
to  the  world,  and  everywhere  sow  down  the  subtle  sug- 
gestion that  the  Bible  is  an  untrustworthy  book,  and  if 
we  can  dislodge  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  Bible 
as  God's  Book,  His  God-breathed  revelation  to  men,  they 
will  be  at  sea,  and  we  can  win  them  and  destroy  them." 
But  the  evil  spirits  answered  in  a  chorus,  so  the  dreamer 
tells  us,  that  they  could  not  win  with  any  such  plea  as 
that.  Every  effort  has  been  made  to  destroy  the  Bible, 
but  in  vain.  Men  have  bound  it.  Men  have  burned 
it.  Men  have  chained  it.  Men  have  done  all  that  they 
could  to  get  rid  of  the  Bible,  but  its  leaves  are  scattered 
to  the  four  winds  of  the  earth.  Above  all,  it  is  hidden 
in  human  hearts.  So  the  evil  spirits  said:  "We  cannot 
win  with  that.    We  cannot  thus  get  rid  of  the  Bible." 

Then  another  one  said:  "This  is  my  suggestion.  Let 
us  go  back  to  e^rth,  and  say  to  mankind  everywhere  that 
there  is  no  such  world  as  hell,  the  world  of  waste,  the 
world  of  loss,  the  world  of  soul  defeat,  no  such  place  as 
that.  Let  us  say  it  everywhere.  Let  us  say  that  God  is 
too  merciful  and  good  to  allow  anybody  to  be  destroyed 
and  lost,  and  let  us  teach  that  everywhere,  and  then  with 
that  subtle  doctrine  of  deception  we  will  mislead  and  de- 
stroy the  world."  But  the  evil  spirits  answered  in  a  chorus : 
"We  cannot  win  with  that."  Down  in  the  human  con- 
science is  written  the  consciousness  that  as  men  sow,  so 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  211 

shall  they  reap.  Men  know  that.  Men  know  that  vice  and 
virtue  cannot  have  the  same  harvest.  Men  know  that  a 
praying,  God-fearing,  God-serving  man  must  have  a  dif- 
ferent harvest  from  a  man  who  neglects  God,  and  is  pray- 
erless,  and  flagrantly  disobeys  God,  and  puts  Him  out  of 
his  life.  There  is  a  difference  in  the  harvest,  and  men 
know  it.  So  they  said  :  "We  cannot  win  with  that.  Down 
in  the  human  consciousness  there  is  a  little  monitor  called 
conscience,  that  makes  its  painful  insistence  that  as  men 
sow,  so  shall  they  reap.  We  cannot  win  with  that  doc- 
trine." 

And  then  one  of  the  evil  spirits,  so  the  dreamer  tells 
us,  rose  up  after  a  moment  and  said:  "Eureka!  Eureka! 
I  have  it!  I  have  it!  Let  us  go  back  to  the  world  and 
say  everywhere  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  men  are 
responsible  to  Him,  and  that  the.  Bible  is  His  Book,  the 
revelation  of  His  will,  the  signboard  to  point  men  in  the 
upward  way ;  and  let  us  say  that  there  is  a  world  of  waste 
and  defeat,  the  name  of  which  is  hell,  which  responsible 
human  beings  shall  have  for  their  home,  if  they  turn  away 
from  God's  proffered  mercy,  and  refuse  to  accept  Him  as 
He  stretches  out  His  hand  with  forgiveness  and  salvation; 
say  that  men  shall  die,  and  shall  be  their  own  destroyers. 
But  when  you  have  said  all  that,  say  one  more  word,  and 
say  it  everywhere.  Say  to  sinners  everywhere  just  this 
word:  *Time  enough  yet!'"  And  then  the  dreamer  said 
that  all  hell  applauded,  for  that  was  the  masterpiece  con- 
cocted by  Satan  to  destroy  the  world.  That  is  Satan's 
masterpiece  to  destroy  the  world.  He  comes  with  his 
subtle  suggestion,  saying:  "Be  not  in  any  haste  about 
religion.  Don't  be  anxious  about  that  really  important 
matter  just  yet.  Linger  about  it.  Take  time  about  it.  De- 
lay about  it.  Procrastinate.  Time  enough  yet!"  And 
with  that  fearful,  specious  teaching,  Satan  is  destroying 
men  and  women  about  us  as  nothing  else  can  and  does 
destroy  the  needy  children  of  men. 

Oh,  may  I  come  this  evening  and  pause  by  the  heart 
of  every  life  in  all  this  great  press,  and  as  a  personal 
friend — for  I  would  be  that  to  every  human  being  on  this 
earth,  to  help  him  if  I  might — may  I  pause  there  and  ask 


212  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

you:  "Is  not  this  matter  about  which  you  linger  entirely 
too  important  for  you  to  continue  such  lingering?  Isn't 
the  matter  of  your  soul's  duty  and  safety  and  need  and 
welfare  a  matter  too  important  for  you  to  keep  on  linger- 
ingr 

Suppose  that  you  were  involved  in  some  important  busi- 
ness transaction,  and  I  should  come  to  you  and  propose 
that  we  go  to  the  sea,  or  to  the  mountains,  for  two  weeks 
of  recreation  and  rest,  and  that  you  leave  all  that  and 
come  with  me,  you  would  look  at  me  and  say:  "I  should 
like  to  go,  and  under  ordinary  conditions,  perhaps  I  might 
go,  but  I  am  just  now  passing  the  papers  for  an  important 
trade.  Both  sides  are  ready  to  sign  them  up,  and  I  cannot 
leave  until  all  this  is  closed."  And  suppose  I  come  back 
and  urge  you:  "You  can  put  that  away.  That  can  wait. 
It  can  wait  a  week  or  ten  days,  and  when  you  come  back 
you  can  sign  the  papers  and  pass  them  and  have  it  all  con- 
cluded." You  would  stare  at  me  as  you  wondered  if  I 
were  not  utterly  abnormal,  in  the  face  of  all  that  you  had 
told  me  about  the  readiness  to  close  the  transactions  that 
had  been  having  your  attention.  Suppose  that  there  were 
illness  in  your  body,  serious  in  its  encroachments,  and  the 
doctor  came  and  looked  you  over  and  said:  "You  must 
immediately  give  your  case  attention.  I  find  serious,  even 
ominous  signs  in  your  body.  You  must  immediately  give 
your  case  attention."  How  unreasonable  for  you  to  laugh 
in  his  face,  and  put  his  warning  away,  and  go  as  of  yore! 
You  say:  "Certainly,  either  would  be  unreasonable,  of 
the  illustrations  you  have  named."  And  yet  I  come  to- 
night to  talk  to  you  about  the  lingering  of  your  soul  with 
reference  to  its  highest  claims  and  duties  and  needs.  Tell 
me,  can  it  be  reasonable  for  you  to  linger  over  that?  Was 
not  Jesus  right  when  He  said :  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall 
be  added  unto  you?"    Was  not  Jesus  pre-eminently  right? 

Years  ago,  in  some  special  meetings,  I  became  deeply 
interested  in  a  young  law  student,  who  was  going  away 
presently  to  the  law  school  at  Austin.  I  sought  him  out 
for  a  quiet  interview  and  said  to  him:  "What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  this  first  question,  the  call  of  Jesus  to 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  213 

be  your  Savior  and  the  master  of  your  life?"  He  said: 
"I  have  definitely  decided,  in  these  meetings,  that  it  is  the 
sanest  thing  in  the  world  to  be  the  friend  and  follower  of 
Jesus;  and  I  have  gone  on  further  and  decided  that  just 
as  soon  as  I  get  my  diploma  from  the  law  school  at  Austin, 
straightway  I  am  going  to  seek  the  Savior  and  begin  serv- 
ing Him."  You  know  what  I  said  to  him:  "What  if  you 
do  not  come  back  from  the  law  school  at  all?  What  if 
you  never  complete  your  law  preparation  at  all?  What 
if  those  three  years  are  not  to  be  allowed  you  ?  Hadn't  you 
better  make  sure  now  of  the  supreme  matter?  With  your 
wits  about  you,  calm  and  clear,  hadn't  you  better  make 
the  supremest  decision  ever  allowed  a  human  soul  to  make, 
namely,  to  say:  'Yes,  Lord  Jesus,  who  died  for  sinners, 
I  yield  to  thee.  Save  me,  and  from  this  hour  guide  me  in 
thine  own  way.'  Hadn't  you  better  take  that  first  step 
now,  and  let  these  smaller  matters  be  properly  related  to 
such  pivotal  decision?"  And  then,  after  he  had  waited  a 
moment  or  two,  he  looked  up  into  my  face  and  said:  "I 
will  take  that  first  step  right  now.  Right  now  I  surrender 
to  Christ.  I  will  confess  Him  in  the  public  service  this 
evening."  And  he  did  so  confess  Him  that  very  evening, 
and  a  few  days  later  went  away  to  the  State  University 
law  school  at  Austin.  It  was  less  than  three  months  until 
his  body  came  back  to  North  Texas  in  a  casket.  Only  one 
short  week  of  pneumonia  had  hurried  him  from  time  into 
death  and  the  grave.  He  had  chosen  the  better  part  be- 
fore it  was  too  late.  Oh,  m.en  and  women,  oughn't  you 
to  put  first  things  first? 

And  tell  me  again,  isn't  this  matter  of  lingering  a  mat- 
ter that  vexes  you  the  more  it  is  crowded  upon  you?  What 
pleasure  is  there  in  indecision?  How  terrible  a  thing  for 
us  to  be  continually  agitated  with  a  big  question  that  must 
be  decided,  and  yet  we  are  not  decided!  This  man  Lot 
did  not  find  lingering  pleasant,  for  the  Bible  tells  us  that 
"he  vexed  his  righteous  soul  from  day  to  day  with  their 
unlawful  deeds,"  as  he  went  drifting  with  the  tide.  Tell 
me,  can  there  be  any  pleasure  in  lingering  with  reference 
to  the  most  important  question  that  you  will  ever  face? 
Here   is  a   question   that  is  inescapable.      Do   something 


214  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

with  Jesus  you  must,  you  will.  Now,  can  it  be  pleasant 
to  you  to  say:  "I  will  keep  putting  Him  off,  and  saying 
no,  and  lingering  with  respect  to  His  call,  and  putting  it 
indefinitely  away?"  Can  that  be  a  thing  to  please  your 
mind?  How  terrible  a  thing  is  the  spirit  of  indecision 
with  reference  to  any  question! 

Oh,  I  would  pause  at  every  lingering  heart  here  to-night, 
and  look  up  into  your  faces,  as  a  friend,  and  probe  you 
with  questions  as  to  why  you  linger  about  the  most  urgent- 
ly important  matter  of  all!  Do  you  tell  me:  "Sir,  I  am 
lingering  because  I  have  no  interest  in  religion  at  all?" 
Oh,  no !  Not  one  in  this  place,  I  think,  makes  answer  like 
that.  Not  one  in  this  place  looks  me  now  in  the  face  say- 
ing: "That  matter  of  Christ's  call  has  in  it  no  appeal  for 
me,  and  that  matter  of  my  soul's  welfare  does  not  interest 
me  a  jot."  Nobody  here  makes  a  suicidal  answer  like  that. 
Time  and  again  you  have  thought  about  being  saved, 
about  having  your  sins  forgiven,  about  being  right  with 
God,  about  being  ready  if  the  summons  should  come  to  go 
hence,  ready  for  whatever  should  come.  Time  and  again 
you  have  thought  of  all  that.  Time  and  again  your  heart 
has  had  its  deep  and  serious  hours  of  reflection  and  high 
purpose.  Time  and  again  you  have  said:  "I  must  give 
this  matter  of  personal  religion  the  right  attention."  Time 
and  again  you  have  written  down  the  resolve:  *T  must 
by  and  by  look  after  this  first  question  of  all,  even  the 
salvation  of  my  soul."  Oh,  it  is  not  that  you  do  not  care 
that  you  linger — it  is  not  that. 

Is  it  this — does  somebody  say:  "I  am  lingering  be- 
cause I  cannot  see  how  it  is  that  one  is  born  again ;  I  can- 
not understand  the  philosophy  of  how  a  soul  is  saved  by 
a  crucified  and  risen  Savior?"  Do  you  say  that  is  why 
you  linger,  because  you  cannot  understand  how  it  is  that 
one  is  saved?  Neither  do  I  understand  it.  Neither  does 
anybody  else.  The  wisest  Christian  philosopher  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  cannot  explain  to  you  how  it  is  that  one 
is  born  again.  The  how  of  everything  is  veiled  with  mys- 
tery. The  lowest  form  of  life  is  utterly  impossible  of  an- 
alysis and  explanation  by  the  greatest  thinker  and  philoso- 
pher of  all.     And  here  the  highest  form  of  life — spiritual 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  215 

life — life  which  God  gives  the  soul  that  accepts  Christ  as 
a  Savior — that  highest  form  of  life  is  utterly  impossible, 
in  the  way  that  it  is  imparted  to  man,  of  human  compre- 
hension or  understanding.  That  scholarly  man  who  came 
to  Jesus,  when  Jesus  was  here  in  the  flesh,  one  evening 
.when  the  twilight  had  gone  and  nightfall  had  come — that 
fine  man,  Nicodemus,  who  came  to  Jesus  to  talk  with  Him 
about  these  spiritual  matters,  when  Jesus  told  him,  "You 
must  be  born  again,  or  you  cannot  even  see  the  kingdom 
of  God,"  said  just  what  you  and  I  have  said — *'how  can 
one  be  born  again?"  Mark  Jesus'  answer:  "The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth" — that  is,  where  it  pleaseth — "and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence 
it  Cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth ;  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit."  You  and  I  are  to  come  confessing  our 
sins,  and  turning  from  them  by  repentance  —  forsaking 
them,  renouncing  them,  and  to  make  honest,  absolute  sur- 
render of  our  poor,  sinful  lives  to  Christ,  saying  to  Him: 
"Savior,  I  give  up  to  thee.  Save  me  thy  way."  And  He 
will  grant  His  forgiveness,  and  He  will  by  His  own  divine 
power  give  us  that  new  birth,  without  which  one  must 
ever  remain  blind  concerning  Christ's  great  salvation. 

That  nobly  gifted  editor  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  Henry 
Grady,  a  great  publicist,  a  thrilling  orator,  a  humanity- 
serving  citizen,  one  of  the  South's  most  honored  sons,  got 
far  away,  right  in  the  zenith  of  his  power  and  popularity, 
from  Christ.  Like  many  others  similarly  situated,  he  neg- 
lected the  things  of  Christ  and  drifted  with  the  tide.  Far 
back  yonder  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  made  a  profession  of 
religion,  and  for  awhile  observed  the  religious  habits,  but 
when  his  remarkable  fame  and  career  came  on,  he  neg- 
lected the  Christian  life,  and  went  drifting  with  the  tide. 
They  told  me,  when  I  was  speaking  in  Atlanta  some  years 
ago,  this  beautiful  chapter  out  of  his  great  life.  When  he 
had  made  one  of  his  loftiest  speeches,  on  one  occasion,  and 
plaudits  from  North,  South,  East  and  West  were  coming 
to  him  on  every  wire,  he  slipped  out  of  the  office  of  "The 
Constitution,"  his  daily  paper  in  Atlanta,  saying  to  his 
associates  as  he  left:  "You  need  not  know  where  I  am, 
but  I  am  going  to  find  mother  to-night  in  the  little  home. 


216  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

I  have  something  to  say  to  her.  I  will  be  back  in  the 
morning.  You  need  not  know  where  I  am."  And  he  took 
an  out-of-the-way  road  to  his  mother's  cottage,  and  when 
he  reached  it,  he  said  to  his  mother:  "Mother,  all  these 
plaudits,  all  this  fame,  all  this  notoriety,  all  this  popularity, 
all  this  applause — that  does  not  satisfy  my  heart.  Mother, 
I  once  thought  that  I  was  a  Christian,  but  if  I  was,  I  have 
got  far  away  from  God,  and  I  have  come  back,  mother,  to 
ask  you  if  I  may  not  kneel  down  at  your  knee,  and  be  a 
little  boy  again,  like  I  was  when  I  was  at  home  with  you, 
and  say  my  simple  prayer,  like  I  used  to  say  it  every  day 
when  the  day  was  done.  And  then,  when  I  have  said  my 
prayer  like  that,  I  wonder  if  you  won't  take  me  to  my  bed, 
and  tuck  the  cover  around  me,  just  like  you  used  to  do 
when  I  was  a  little  boy,  and  then,  when  you  have  tucked 
the  cover  around  me,  if  you  won't  bend  down  over  me  and 
pray  for  your  little  boy,  for  God  to  teach  him  and  guide 
him  and  help  him,  just  like  you  used  to  pray  for  me  when 
I  was  a  little  boy."  And  that  is  exactly  what  happened 
in  that  little  home  that  night.  Great  Henry  Grady  knelt 
at  his  mother's  knee,  like  he  used  to  do  as  a  little  boy,  and 
said  his  simple,  boyish  prayer,  like  he  used  to  say  it  long 
years  before,  and  then  his  dear  old  mother  escorted  him 
to  his  room  and  bed,  and  she  tucked  the  cover  about  him, 
and  bent  over  him,  with  tears  and  prayers,  commending 
her  boy  to  the  great  Savior.  And  then  she  kissed  him, 
like  she  used  to  do,  and  left  him  alone.  And  in  the  gray 
of  the  early  morning,  Henry  Grady  came  from  his  room, 
and  found  his  mother,  and  there  was  a  light  on  his  face  fair 
like  the  morning  light,  and  he  said :  "Mother,  I  was  a  little 
child  last  night,  and  felt  out  after  Jesus,  and  He  met  me 
and  has  spoken  peace  to  my  poor,  wandering  heart." 

Oh,  souls  not  right  with  God,  come  as  little  children 
to  Him,  this  evening!  Be  a  little  child  and  come  to  Jesus. 
Oh,  lawyer,  over  there,  or  doctor,  or  carpenter,  or  mer- 
chant! Oh,  wandering  man  or  woman,  with  your  mind 
all  puzzled  and  perplexed  and  shot  through  with  the  ques- 
tions, be  a  little  child  to-night,  and  say:  "Lord  Jesus,  I 
know  that  I  have  moral  lapse  and  loss  and  sin  in  my  life, 
and  that  I  do  not  have  moral  resources  within  myself  suf- 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  217 

ficient  to  be  the  man  or  woman  I  ought  to  be.  Lord  Jesus, 
I  will  surrender  to  thee.  Save  me  thy  way."  And,  as  the 
Lord  lives.  He  will  save  you  this  very  night.  Oh,  do  not 
linger,  but  come  to  Him!  "Except  ye  be  converted,  and 
become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven." 

The  chief  reason,  I  summon  you  to  remember,  why 
souls  are  lost  is  wrapped  up  in  that  word  "lingering,"  that 
word  "delay,"  that  word  "to-morrow,"  that  word  "pro- 
crastination." "He  lingered."  He  just  lingered,  and  the 
ill-fated  results  followed.  And  while  you  and  I  linger, 
convictions  within  us  get  feebler  and  fainter,  even  every 
hour  we  linger.  And  while  we  linger,  our  desires  and  im- 
pressions, kindled  within  us  by  the  truth  and  Spirit  of 
God,  yet  resisted  by  us,  wane  and  get  less  and  less.  And 
while  we  linger,  the  difficulties  strengthen  about  us  and 
multiply.  While  we  linger,  habit  hardens  and  character 
crystallizes — while  we  linger.     Oh,  the  tragedy  of  it! 

The  naturalists  tell  us  about  a  little  plant  called  the 
"sensitive  plant,"  the  most  sensitive  plant,  they  tell  us, 
that  grows  in  all  the  vegetable  world.  You  may  touch  that 
little  plant,  and  it  will  vibrate  in  every  limb  and  leaf,  as 
with  the  vibrations  of  some  fine-stringed  violin.  You  may 
keep  on  touching  it,  and  it  will  vibrate  every  time  you 
touch  it,  but  less  and  less  and  less,  every  time  you  give  it 
a  touch.  Keep  on  touching  it,  and  there  it  vibrates,  per- 
ceptibly, but  the  vibrations  are  less,  they  are  fewer,  they 
are  slower,  with  every  touch.  After  awhile  that  sensitive 
plant,  under  the  repeated  touches,  refuses  to  vibrate  any 
more.  The  plant  has  at  last  been  touched  to  death,  and 
there  it  hangs,  in  every  limb  and  leaf  and  tendril,  all  flabby 
and  unresponsive.  It  has  at  last  been  touched  to  death. 
Oh,  human  soul,  that  soul  of  yours  is  more  sensitive  than 
the  finest  stringed  violin!  More  sensitive  is  that  soul  than 
the  vegetable  plant  that  I  have  just  described.  And  that 
soul  is  touched,  that  soul  is  called,  that  soul  is  played  upon, 
that  soul  feels,  that  soul  vibrates,  that  soul  responds,  that 
soul  argues,  that  soul  trembles,  but  that  soul  lingers.  Now, 
Satan  does  not  care  how  much  you  tremble,  nor  how  much 
you  feel,  if  you  will  only  linger,  for  lingering  is  the  way 


218  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

of  doom  and  failure  and  death.  God  give  you  to  cease 
your  lingering,  God  give  you  to  stop  your  lingering,  this 
very  hour !  Oh,  Breath  Divine,  bestir  these  lingering  souls, 
that  their  lingering  now  may  cease ! 

There  is  another  thought  in  the  text,  to  which  we  now 
advance,  far  more  serious  than  this  first  thought,  to  which 
your  earnest  attention  has  just  been  called:  Lot's  linger- 
ing doomed  other  lives,  even  those  of  his  own  heart  and 
home.  Oh,  that  is  to  my  mind  the  most  awful  thought 
to  be  contemplated  by  the  human  mind.  Lot's  lingering 
doomed  his  family.  You  read  there  the  story  in  all  its 
contextual  relations,  and  you  will  see  how  Lot's  lingering 
dragged  that  family  of  his  down  into  the  deepest  ditch  of 
ruin  and  defeat.  Lot  went  to  his  sons-in-law,  when  at 
last  he  was  awakened  to  get  out  of  the  city,  called  thereto 
by  the  warning  of  the  angels,  and  he  said  to  those  sons-in- 
law  that  they  must  hasten,  for  danger  was  imminent  and 
overwhelming  for  the  city.  And  those  sons-in-law  laughed 
him  to  scorn.  They  mocked  him  to  his  face.  They  called 
him  an  old  dotard.  He  had  lingered  too  late,  he  had  waited 
too  long,  and  his  influence  was  contemptible  with  those 
sons-in-law,  when  at  last  he  sought  to  recover  and  save 
them.  And  even  Lot's  wife,  warned  solemnly  not  to  look 
back  as  they  made  their  haste  from  the  city,  looked  back 
and  met  her  ill-fated  doom.  Oh,  Lot,  head  of  the  house, 
if  thou  hadst  been  the  man  thou  oughtest  to  have  been, 
that  woman  would  not  have  looked  back,  and  that  fate 
would  not  have  come!  Thy  lingering  hast  wrought  her 
doom! 

And  then  Lot  went  on  with  only  two  of  his  children, 
two  daughters,  and  the  after-story  of  those  two  daughters 
is  the  most  shocking  story  in  all  this  Holy  Bible.  Lot's 
house  went  down,  wrecked  and  doomed  and  lost,  because 
Lot  lingered.  That  is  the  most  terrible  picture  in  all  the 
Holy  Bible.  It  brings  you  and  me  face  to  face  again  with 
the  awful  power  of  human  influence.  One  person  helps 
another  or  hurts  another,  just  by  human  influence.  Glad- 
stone never  wearied  of  saying:  "One  example  is  worth 
a  thousand  arguments."  Your  example  and  mine  every 
day  takes  people  up  or  takes  them  down.     Oh,  influence. 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  219 

influence!  Is  there  any  other  question  quite  so  serious  in 
the  world  for  human  minds  to  contemplate?  Jesus  gives 
the  picture  of  one  who  causes  through  his  influence  some- 
body else  to  stumble  and  miss  the  right  way:  "It  were 
better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck, 
and  he  cast  into  the  sea,  than  that  he  should  offend  one 
of  these  little  ones."  Oh,  parent,  is  your  child  going  the 
broad  way  because  of  you?  Oh,  friend,  is  your  friend  or 
acquaintance  going  the  broad  way  because  of  your  posi- 
tion, your  influence,  your  example?  Oh,  soul,  for  your 
own  sake,  first,  personal  religion  is  the  supreme  claim, 
and  then  for  the  sake  of  others,  whom  you  must  hurt  or 
help,  whom  you  must  take  up  or  drag  down,  you  must  not, 
dare  not,  be  careless  about  your  influence.  And  the  su- 
preme influence  is  the  influence  of  example. 

I  was  speaking  awhile  ago  in  one  of  our  Southern 
cities,  and  one  of  the  members  of  the  National  Congress 
was  in  the  audience,  one  evening,  a  man  of  much  weight 
and  worth,  but  not  a  Christian,  and  that  evening  I  was 
preaching  on  the  text:  "No  man  liveth  to  himself."  When 
I  gave  the  call  for  public  confession  of  Christ,  that  con- 
gressman's conscience  was  probed  to  the  depths.  He 
acted  up  to  the  light  he  had,  and  walked  down  the  aisle 
and  said  to  me:  "God  forgive  me  that  I  did  not  do  this 
when  I  was  a  young  fellow,  but  I  do  it  at  last!"  And  no 
sooner  had  he  done  that  than  it  looked  as  if  half  the  con- 
gregation would  follow  him  down  the  aisles — young  men, 
and  middle-aged  men,  and  boys —  as  they  saw  that  con- 
spicuous citizen  come  like  a  little  child  and  make  his  sur- 
render to  Christ.  Oh,  soul,  you  intend  to  come.  Hasten, 
I  pray  you,  not  simply  for  your  own  sake.  For  the  sake 
of  somebody  sheltering  behind  you,  waiting  on  you,  not 
acting  because  you  have  not  acted,  hasten,  I  pray  you,  to 
make  your  return  to  God. 

Now  I  call  your  attention  a  moment  more  to  the  in- 
strumentalities that  were  used  to  cause  Lot  to  give  up  his 
lingering.  God  sent  His  angels  to  Lot  to  warn  him,  to 
beseech  him,  to  counsel  him  to  give  up  his  lingering,  to 
leave  that  place  of  wrong  relations,  where  his  feet  were 
fast  in  the  mire.     God  sent  angels  to  help  Lot.     Whom 


220  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

has  He  sent  to  help  you  and  me?  His  messengers  are 
many.  Angels,  I  doubt  not,  for  the  Bible  teaches  it,  play 
a  significant  part  in  human  lives.  But  there  are  other 
messengers  that  God  sends,  and  they  are  near  at  hand, 
and  you  and  I  may  perceive  them  and  know  them.  There 
is  the  Holy  Bible.  Oh,  what  an  influence  the  Bible  has, 
with  its  pungent  calls  to  men!  Sometimes  just  one  sen- 
tence grips  the  human  conscience  and  turns  it  away  from 
darkness  to  light,  from  the  wrong  road  to  the  right.  Call 
to  mind  some  of  its  pungent  words :  "Prepare  to  meet  thy 
God."  "Seek  ye  the  Lord,  while  He  may  be  found.  Call 
ye  upon  Him  while  He  is  near."  "For  the  great  day  of 
His  wrath  is  come ;  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand?"  "How 
wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan?"  "So  then  every 
one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God."  With 
Scriptures  like  these,  the  human  conscience  often  is  probed, 
and  turned  by  even  one  sentence  of  Scripture,  from  the 
wrong  to  the  right  way. 

And  then  how  often  God  sends  us  His  messenger  of 
preaching.  Oh,  what  strange  effects  has  preaching !  Many 
a  time  the  preacher  is  thought  by  the  hearer  to  be  per- 
sonal, to  be  acquainted  with  all  that  is  in  the  hearer's  life, 
and  to  be  actually  describing  the  life  of  the  hearer,  and 
the  hearer  winces  under  such  personal  description.  Time 
and  again  men  have  sought  me  out  as  I  have  left  my  pul- 
pit, and  have  said  to  me  alone :  "Who  told  you  about  my 
condition,  that  you  laid  it  bare  here  to-day?"  And  I  have 
said:  "Why,  I  never  heard  of  your  condition.  No  living 
soul  has  ever  breathed  a  word  to  me  about  your  condition." 
They  said:  "What  then  does  it  all  mean?"  And  I  have 
answered:  "It  means  that  God  knows  about  it,  and  God 
has  guided  His  preacher,  who  said:  'Lord,  the  preacher 
does  not  know  what  to  preach,  but  thou  knowest.  Give 
him  the  message  which  thou  wilt  take  and  apply  to  the 
human  conscience,'  and  God  took  the  message  and  with 
it  found  the  human  conscience."  What  strange  effects 
preaching  has!  One  wrote  me  this  from  Birmingham, 
Alabama,  the  other  night:  "I  heard  you  when  you  laid 
bare  my  case  in  that  sermon.  Somebody  had  told  3^ou  all. 
I  went  back  to  the  hotel,  in  your  city,  but  could  not  sleep. 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  221 

and  I  took  the  train  and  I  have  reached  Birmingham,  and 
here  in  the  hotel  in  Birmingham,  at  midnight,  I  have  found 
Christ,  and  I  am  writing  to  tell  you  that  your  sermon  was 
not  in  vain.  I  wonder  who  told  you  about  me."  Nobody 
told  me  about  him.  I  had  never  before  heard  of  him.  I 
did  not  know  he  was  in  the  audience.  But  the  omniscient 
God  knew  he  was  in  the  audience,  and  sent  the  message 
and  fitted  it  home  to  his  heart  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  who 
shows  the  soul  the  way  from  darkness  to  light. 

Sometimes,  ofttimes,  God's  messenger  is  home  influ- 
ence. Did  you  ever  hear  Mr.  Torrey,  the  far-famed  evan- 
gelist, tell  what  an  awful  unbeliever  he  was  when  he  was 
a  young  man,  how  he  went  to  the  deepest  depths  of  in- 
fidelity and  scouted  everything — the  Bible,  Christ,  God, 
heaven,  hell,  immortality — everything  like  that?  And  his 
dear  mother  yearned  after  him,  and  loved  him,  and  pleaded 
with  him,  and  prayed  for  him,  and  after  awhile  he  said 
to  his  mother:  "I  am  tired  of  it  all,  and  I  am  going  to 
leave  and  not  bother  you  any  more,  and  you  will  not  see 
me  any  more.  I  am  tired  of  it  all."  She  followed  him  to 
the  door,  and  followed  him  to  the  gate,  pleading  and  pray- 
ing and  loving  and  weeping,  and  then  at  last  she  said,  as 
her  final  word :  "Son,  when  you  come  to  the  darkest  hour 
of  all,  and  everything  seems  lost  and  gone,  if  you  will 
honestly  call  on  your  mother's  God,  you  will  get  help." 
He  went  his  way  in  his  darksome  and  terrible  infidelity. 
Deeper  down  he  went,  day  in  and  out,  and  month  in  and 
out.  And  he  said  the  months  went  by,  and  he  was  427 
miles  from  his  mother's  home,  in  a  hotel  in  a  certain  town, 
unable  to  sleep,  wearied  with  his  sins  and  wearied  with 
life,  and  he  at  last  rose  up  in  the  early  morning,  and  said : 
"I  will  get  out  of  this  bed,  and  I  will  take  the  gun  there 
from  my  valise,  and  I  will  put  it  to  my  temple,  and  I  will 
end  this  farce  called  human  life."  And  as  he  got  out  of 
bed  to  do  that  dreadful  thing,  the  last  word  that  his  mother 
had  said  came  back  to  him:  "Son,  when  your  darkest 
hour  of  all  comes,  and  everything  seems  lost,  call  in  sin- 
cerity on  your  mother's  God,  and  you  will  get  help."  And 
Torrey  said  he  fell  beside  his  bed  and  said:  "Oh,  God 
of  my  mother,  if  there  is  such  a  Being,  I  want  light,  and 


222  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

if  thou  wilt  give  it,  no  matter  how,  I  will  follow  it."  He 
had  light  within  a  few  moments,  and  hastened  back  home. 
And,  to  follow  the  story  just  a  moment  more,  he  said  that 
when  he  got  back  home,  thinking  he  would  surprise  his 
mother  and  come  upon  her  unexpectedly,  she  came  down 
the  walk  to  the  gate,  laughing  and  crying  with  uncontrolla- 
ble joy,  and  said:  "Oh,  my  boy,  I  know  why  you  are 
coming  back,  and  I  know  what  you  have  to  tell.  You  have 
found  the  Lord.  God  has  told  me  so."  Oh,  the  power  of 
a  mother's  prayer!  Oh,  the  power  of  a  father's  prayer, 
the  power  of  a  brother's  prayer,  a  sister's  prayer!  Oh, 
the  power  of  a  wife's  prayer,  when  she  links  herself  with 
God!  And  full  many  a  time  God's  good  angel  to  bring 
one  back  from  the  darksome  and  downward  way  is  some- 
body's prayer,  who  says:  "Lord,  spare  this  soul  a  little 
longer.  Give  this  soul  a  little  more  respite,  a  little  more 
time."  Prayer,  how  mighty  it  is  before  God  when  it  is 
sincerely  offered! 

Sometimes  it  is  a  providence  that  calls  you.  Sometimes 
God's  blessings  come  robed  in  black.  Sometimes  sickness 
terrible  is  at  the  gate,  at  the  door,  within  the  house.  Some- 
times a  loved  one's  life  hangs  on  a  thread.  Sometimes 
your  own  life  has  been  hanging  on  a  thread.  And  through 
all  these  providences,  God  is  saying:  "Set  your  house  in 
order,  and  do  it  in  time.  Do  it  before  it  is  too  late.  Do 
it  while  you  may.   Cease  your  lingering,  and  come  to  God." 

And  over  it  all,  and  through  it  all,  and  above  it  all, 
God's  good  Spirit  is  the  chief  agent  of  all  to  woo  men  and 
win  them  to  come  to  Christ.  Every  desire  in  your  heart 
to  be  right  with  God  was  put  there  by  His  good  Spirit. 
Oh,  do  not  resist  that  light-bringing,  life-giving  Spirit,  I 
beseech  you ! 

Now  I  am  coming  to  ask  you,  won't  you  refuse  to  go 
on  with  your  lingering?  Won't  you  cease  from  your  lin- 
gering and  come  the  upward  way?  Won't  you  this  hour 
rise  up  with  a  grand  decision?  How  grand  decision  is! 
In  one  great  hour  Esau  lost  all  by  a  wrong  decision,  and 
in  one  great  hour  beautiful  Esther  gained  all  by  a  right 
decision.  How  grand  decision  is!  Won't  you  summon 
yourself  with  a  fixed  decision  and  say:    "My  lingering  in 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  223 

the  .wrong  road,  exposing  and  imperiling  my  soul  and  my 
influence  over  others,  stops  to-night,  and  I  make  my  re- 
turn to  God?"  Won't  you  thus  cease  your  lingering? 
Won't  you  end  your  delay!  Won't  you  stop  that  cry 
about  "to-morrow,"  about  "by  and  by,"  and  say :  "It  shall 
be  to-night  for  me  that  I  make  my  return  to  God?"  Oh, 
I  pray  you,  linger  not  too  late ! 

I  was  in  Galveston  preaching,  before  that  first  horrible 
storm  came  years  ago,  the  awfulness  of  which  made  the 
whole  world  stand  aghast.  I  was  there  just  a  little  while 
before  that  storm,  preaching  in  a  series  of  meetings,  and 
when  I  came  to  the  last  night  service  that  I  could  attend, 
I  pleaded  longer  than  usual  that  night,  thus  hoping  to 
reach  five  men  who  had  heard  me  several  nights.  Other 
men  came  forward,  confessing  Christ,  but  none  of  those 
five.  When  the  people  had  stood  up  at  my  summons  for 
the  benediction,  I  turned  to  them  to  plead  again,  remem- 
bering it  was  my  last  service:  "Won't  those  men  who 
have  waited  come  now?"  And  one  of  them  started,  and 
came  down  the  aisle,  announcing  his  decision  for  Christ. 
And  then  I  said:  "Won't  others  come?"  And  a  second 
one  came  and  stood  by  me,  at  my  invitation.  And  then  I 
said  again:  "Won't  others  come?"  And  a  third  one  of 
those  men  came  and  stood  beside  me.  Then  I  waited  and 
said :  "Won't  other  men,  who  know  they  ought  to  sur- 
render to  Christ,  ought  for  every  high  motive  that  can 
move  a  thinking  man  to  take  a  great  step,  won't  you  take 
that  step  and  come?"  And  the  other  two  men  stepped  out 
into  the  aisle  and  came  forward,  and  we  had  all  five  of 
them.  In  a  moment  or  two  I  dismissed  the  audience,  and 
soon  was  hurrying  on  an  outbound  train  for  my  home. 
And  then,  in  a  few  weeks,  came  that  fearful  storm  that 
swept  thousands  of  people  into  the  engulfing  waters.  Later, 
when  I  got  in  touch  with  a  friend  over  the  long  distance 
phone,  to  ask  what  I  could  do  for  him  and  his,  he  said: 
"Do  you  remember  how  you  pleaded  in  your  meeting  that 
last  night?"  I  said:  "Surely,  I  can  never  forget  it."  "Do 
you  remember  how  you  lifted  up  your  voice  and  sent  it 
out  for  the  five  waiting  men?"  I  said:  "Yes:  tell  me 
what  has  happened  to  them."    And  then  I  heard  the  sob 


224  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

in  his  throat,  as  he  said;  "All  five  of  them,  sir,  have  gone 
down  in  the  whelming  flood  and  are  drowned/*  And  then, 
as  I  waited  a  moment  more,  he  said,  with  a  sob  distinctly 
audible:  "Oh,  sir,  what  if  you  had  not  pleaded  a  little 
longer?  What  if  they  had  not  come?"  And  I  ask  again: 
What  if  they  had  not  come? 

What  if  you  do  not  come  before  it  is  too  late?  What 
if  you  linger  one  second  too  long?  Lingering  one  second 
too  long  to  come  to  Christ  is  as  ruinous  as  lingering  an 
eternity  too  long.  Oh,  this  Tuesday  night,  won't  you  cease 
your  lingering  and  say:  "My  decision  is  given?"  Do  you 
remember  the  description  given  of  Cortez's  invasion  into 
Mexico,  long  ago,  when  there  was  such  destruction  wrought 
by  such  invasion  that  ill-fated  night?  Do  you  remember 
the  description  given  of  that  awful  night  by  the  historian 
who  sets  out  the  story?  Three  little  words  stand  out  to 
tell  the  fearful  story :    "The  sad  night !" 

Oh,  Savior,  is  this  to  be  that  sad  night  about  which 
some  soul  here  shall  have  to  say:  "I  heard.  I  felt.  I 
knew.  I  was  taught.  I  ought  to  have  acted.  I  knew  it 
well.  I  said,  T  will  linger.'  I  said,  *I  will  wait.'  I  said, 
'Not  yet.'  "  Shall  it  be  written  down  concerning  you :  "The 
sad  night!"  God  forbid!  Be  not  afraid  to  surrender  to 
Christ.  Be  not  afraid  to  decide  it.  Be  not  afraid,  little 
girl;  be  not  afraid,  my  boy,  to  say  "Yes"  to  Christ.  He 
saves.  If  you  trust  Him,  He  will  take  you  and  save  you. 
Be  not  afraid,  oh,  man  or  woman,  young  or  older,  or  even 
aged ;  be  not  afraid  to  make  your  surrender  to  Christ.  Be 
not  afraid,  oh,  duty-neglecting  Christian,  to  rise  up  with 
a  fixed  resolve  and  retrace  your  steps  and  say:  "I  will 
redeem  the  time.  I  will  renew  my  vows  with  Jesus."  Be 
not  afraid,  oh,  backslidden  Christian,  far  out  in  the  cold 
and  in  the  night;  be  not  afraid  to  return  now  to  the  for- 
giving Savior.  Jesus'  invitation  to  the  wanderer  is  sweeter 
than  the  strains  of  an  aeolian  harp.  Whosoever  to-night, 
in  all  this  place,  wrong  with  God,  in  the  church  or  out, 
who  wishes  to  be  right  with  Him  may  be  absolutely  as- 
sured that  Jesus  waits  to  be  gracious  unto  all  such  persons, 
and  to  bless  and  to  save  them. 

If  your  heart  has  given  its  acceptance  of  Christ  as 


THE  DOOM  OF  DELAY  225 

your  personal  Savior,  and  you  have  not  yet  made  it  known, 
or  if  your  heart  now  makes  such  acceptance  of  Him,  come 
before  all  the  people,  while  now  we  sing,  to  tell  us  of  your 
decision  that  He  shall  be  yours  and  you  shall  be  His,  to- 
day and  forever. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  Holy  Father,  as  the  people  go,  take  thou  these  who  come  confessing 
their  rettirn  to  Christ,  their  surrender  to  Him,  and  make  life  glorious  for  them 
from  to-night.  Let  every  saved  soul  grow  stronger  and  stronger,  because  it  rests 
utterly  on  Christ  to  save,  and  follow  obediently  all  the  light  He  gives.  And 
may  the  soul  be  so  fortified  with  Christ's  own  conscious  grace  and  help  that 
from  to-night  each  of  these  shall  go  to  live  in  the  most  victorious  way  for  Christ. 
And  the  Lord  grant,  as  now  we  separate,  that  there  may  be  bound  upon  every 
heart  in  this  place,  all  through  this  throng,  the  worth  and  weight  of  eternal 
matters,  in  such  an  impressive  way,  that  every  one  in  this  place  who  is  wrong 
with  Christ,  may  to-night,  with  whole-heartedness,  seek  to  be  right  with  Him. 
Set  before  every  heart  here  the  assuring  promise:  "In  the  day  thou  seekest  me 
with  thy  whole  heart,  I  will  be  found  of  thee."  May  this  be  that  day  for  all 
this  throng!  Deepen  this  work  of  saving  grace  in  all  our  hearts,  our  great  Savior 
— mightily  deepen  it  in  all  our  hearts — so  that  we  shall  have  hearts  burning  with 
passion  and  compassion  for  souls  about  us,  even  as  Christ  would  have  us  think 
aad  feel  and  act  toward  them  and  for  them.  And  give  us  to  speak  the  word  in 
season  to  them,  and  to  pray  the  prayer  acceptable  before  thee  in  their  behalf,  as 
the  hours  come  and  go. 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  be  granted 
you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Ainen. 


XVI 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  20,  1917, 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

That  is  a  very  suggestive  sentence  in  the  Bible,  which 
says:  "I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go 
into  the  house  of  the  Lord."  That  same  word  is  the  word, 
I  trust,  that  is  being  daily  passed  on  by  the  Christian  men 
and  women  before  me,  to  others  about  them,  Christians 
and  non-Christians.  Very  thoughtfully,  and  as  we  can 
find  the  opportunity,  the  invitation  needs  to  be  passed  to 
those  about  us:  "Come  with  us."  It  should  be  a  fixed 
habit  in  every  Christian  life  to  find  out  people  who  do  not 
go  to  church,  and  thoughtfully  and  earnestly  ask  them  to 
go  to  church.  'Taith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by 
the  Word  of  God."  "How  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher?"  "It  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing to  save  them  that  believe."  There  can  be  no  substi- 
tutes for  preaching.  Daily,  one  of  the  reigning  habits  in 
every  Christian  life  should  be  to  ask  people  about  them  to 
come  with  them  to  hear  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God.  But  we  should  do  more  than  that.  That 
is  consistent  and  blessed  and  important,  but  that  is  not 
enough.  We  should,  in  the  right  way,  ask  the  people  about 
us,  if  it  is  well  with  their  souls,  if  their  sins  have  been  for- 
given of  God,  if  they  have  been  saved,  if  they  have  been  born 
again,  if  their  hearts  know  what  it  is  to  rejoice  consciously 
in  Jesus  as  their  personal  Savior.  That  kind  of  conversation 
ought  to  be  had  by  Christian  people,  men  and  women,  day 

226 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  227 

in  and  out,  even  with  every  opportunity.  There  is  a  right 
way  to  talk  with  people  about  their  souls.  Such  talk 
means  humility  and  carefulness  and  prayerfulness  and  a 
deferential  consideration  for  the  one  with  whom  you  are 
talking.  How  Jesus  respected  personality  and  honored  it, 
^hen  He  stood  before  it,  divine  as  He  was,  making  His 
calls  and  claims  to  be  allowed  to  be  Savior  and  Master! 
You  will  bring  with  you  a  group  to-night  to  the  big  tent, 
won't  you,  who  ought  to  be  brought  to  the  meeting?  And 
if  it  cannot  be  a  group,  cannot  each  of  you  Christians  bring 
one  person  that  you  ought  to  bring?  And  all  along  won't 
you  be  in  prayer  that  the  preacher  may  speak  just  what 
he  ought  to  speak,  and  in  that  temper  in  which  Christ's 
gospel  ought  always  to  be  spoken?  And,  more,  won't  you 
be  in  prayer  unceasing  that  the  good  Spirit  Divine  will 
open  the  heart  of  the  one  you  bring  to  attend  to  the  word 
that  may  be  heard?  God  lead  you  and  help  you,  as  you 
give  yourselves  to  the  divinest  quest  of  all — the  winning 
of  the  lost  to  Him! 

A  CONQUERING  FAITH. 

Text;  Luke  5:  16-27. 

I  should  like  this  morning  to  direct  your  attention  to 
a  very  suggestive  incident  about  this  first  matter  of  all — 
the  winning  of  souls  to  Christ.  Will  you  not  give  reverent 
heed  to  it  as  I  shall  read  it?  I  read  you  from  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Luke's  gospel: 

And  He  withdrew  himself  into  the  wilderness,  and  prayed.  And  it  came 
to  pass  on  a  certain  day,  as  He  was  teaching,  that  there  were  Pharisees  and 
doctors  of  the  law  sitting  by,  which  were  come  out  of  every  town  of  Galilee,  and 
Judea,  and  Jerusalem:  and  the  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  them. 
And,  behold,  men  brought  in  a  bed  a  man  which  was  taken  with  a  palsy:  and 
they  sought  means  to  bring  him  in,  and  to  lay  him  before  Jesus.  And  when 
they  could  not  find  by  what  way  they  might  bring  him  in  because  of  the  multi- 
tude, they  went  upon  the  housetop,  and  let  him  down  through  the  tiling  with 
his  couch  into  the  midst  before  Jesus.  And  when  Jesus  saw  their  faith.  He  said 
unto  him,  Man,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.  And  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees 
began  to  reason,  saying,  Who  is  this  which  speaketh  blasphemies?  Who  can 
forgive  sins,  but  God  alone?  But  when  Jesus  perceived  their  thoughts,  He 
answering  said  unto  them.  What  reason  ye  in  your  hearts?  Whether  it  is  easier, 
to  say.  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee:  or  to  say.  Rise  up  and  walk?  But  that  ye 
may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  upon  earth  to  forgive  sins  (He  said 
unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy),  I  say  unto  thee.  Arise,  and  take  up  thy  couch,  and 
go  into  thine  house.  And  immediately  he  rose  up  before  them,  and  took  up  that 
whereon  he  lay,  and  departed  to  his  own  house,  glorifying  God.  And  they  were 
all  amazed,  and  they  glorified  God,  and  were  filled  with  fear,  saying,  We  have 
seen   strange  things  to-day. 

The  whole  incident  is  taken  for  our  brief  study  this 
morning. 


228  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

We  have  in  this  incident,  first  of  all,  a  picture  of  Jesus 
in  prayer.  Before  He  went  to  do  any  great  work  He  gave 
himself  always  to  a  season  of  prayer;  and  after  He  had 
wrought  a  work  and  had  withdrawn  from  the  publicity  of 
it,  He  betook  himself  again  to  the  quiet  place  to  pray. 
Oh,  the  master  example  for  us  in  prayer  is  Christ  Jesus, 
our  Savior  and  Lord !  The  locust  that  eats  up  our  power 
as  Christians  full  many  a  time  is  the  locust  of  neglected 
prayer.  If  the  Master  had  need  to  pray,  how  much  more 
the  need  for  His  disciples! 

And  we  have  in  the  record  of  the  incident  an  expression 
quite  striking:  "The  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to 
heal  them."  Jesus  was  in  a  certain  building  teaching,  and 
it  was  thronged  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  there  were 
Pharisees  and  doctors  of  the  law  sitting  by,  who  were 
come  out  of  every  town  of  Galilee,  and  Judea  and  Jerusa- 
lem. The  striking  expression  you  will  note  again:  "And 
the  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  them."  It  does 
not  say  that  the  power  of  the  Lord  did  heal  them.  It  says : 
"The  power  of  the  Lord  was  present  to  heal  them."  They 
did  not  wish  to  be  healed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  Phari- 
sees and  doctors  of  the  law,  sitting  around,  were  there  to 
cavil,  to  criticise,  to  carp,  to  complain,  to  deride;  were 
there  to  find  fault.  And  yet  God  was  there  in  His  power 
to  grant  healing  and  forgiveness  and  grace,  if  only  their 
attitude  to  Him  had  been  of  the  right  sort. 

Oh,  It  is  a  solemn  thought,  my  friends,  that  when  we 
gather  for  worship  anywhere,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  the 
power  of  the  Lord  is  right  there  to  heal  the  people.  If 
only  such  case  shall  assume  the  right  attitude  to  God, 
then  shall  healing  surely  come.  How  it  ought  to  touch 
our  hearts!  H®w  it  ought  to  solemnize  them!  How  it 
ought  to  humble  us!  How  it  ought  to  move  us  to  prayer, 
that  every  time  we  meet  and  offer  any  prayer,  God  is  there 
to  heal  and  Avill  heal,  if  only  the  right  attitude  shall  be 
assumed  by  the  hearer  toward  Him! 

Here  we  have  the  arresting  incident,  that  four  people 
combined  to  bring  one  person  to  Christ,  for  Christ's  mercy 
and  help,  and  the  whole  occasion  is  rich  in  lessons.  Two 
or  three  will  suffice  for  us  this  midday  meeting.    The  first 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  229 

is  that  some  cases  require  extra  effort  to  get  them  to 
Christ.  There  are  some  cases  in.  this  fair  city  that  will 
never  be  won  to  Christ  unless  extra  effort  if  put  forth  to 
win  them.  The  ordinary  effort  will  not  reach  them.  The 
passing,  commonplace  effort  of  one  person  will  not  reach 
such  cases.  There  are  cases  here  and  there  and  yonder 
that  require  extra  effort,  if  they  shall  ever  be  won  to  Christ, 
and  this  incident  points  this  pungent  lesson  and  we  need 
earnestly  to  study  that  lesson  to-day. 

Now,  to  be  sure,  many  cases — I  think,  most  cases — are 
brought  to  Christ  by  individual,  personal  effort.  One  per- 
son goes  out  after  another  and  brings  that  other  to  Christ. 
Andrew  went  after  his  brother  Simon,  much  stronger  than 
Andrew,  self-willed  and  impulsive  and  strengthful ;  and 
yet  modest  Andrew  brought  his  strong  and  aggressive 
brother  to  the  Messiah.  Time  and  again  is  the  lesson  writ- 
ten large  for  us,  in  human  experience,  that  one  person 
may  go  out  and  bring  another  person  to  Christ.  Some  of 
us  in  our  pastorates  see  that  truth  illustrated  week  by 
week. 

I  am  thinking  this  moment  of  a  timid  mother,  who 
came  to  my  study,  with  her  little  eleven-year-old  girl,  just 
a  few  weeks  ago,  to  say  to  me,  in  modest  but  earnest  sen- 
tences: "I  have  brought  my  little  girl  to  talk  with  you 
about  coming  into  the  church  next  Sunday  morning."  And 
then  I  turned  to  the  child,  and  sought  as  tactfully  as  I 
could,  to  elicit  from  her  what  she  knew  about  Jesus,  and 
she  told  me  her  straightforward  story.  Her  mother,  the 
Saturday  night  before,  had  taken  her  aside,  and  with  care- 
ful, prayerful  words  had  explained  to  the  little  daughter 
what  being  saved  meant,  and  how  a  sinner  is  saved  alone 
by  Christ,  and  the  little  girl  said:  "Mother,  I  will  take 
Him  right  now  for  my  Savior,"  and  her  decision  was  given, 
and  with  her  eyes  moist  with  tears  the  beautiful  child, 
looking  at  her  mother,  said:  "Mother  won  me  to  Christ 
Saturday  night.  When  they  were  all  away  from  home 
except  mother  and  me,  mother  brought  me  to  Christ." 
Oh,  I  imagine  that  a  legion  of  angels  watched  around  that 
home,  as  the  mother  did  the  sublimest  thing  possible  for 
a  mother  to  do,  when  she  pointed  her  child  in  the  way  of 


230  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

life.  And  the  company  of  angels,  I  doubt  not,  hurried 
back  to  the  starry  heights  above,  to  tell  the  hosts  up  there : 
"The  kingdom  is  coming,  because  we  saw  and  heard  a 
mother  teaching  her  child  the  way  of  life/' 

On  another  morning,  just  before  I  went  into  my  pulpit  to 
preach  at  the  eleven  o'clock  hour,  there  was  a  knock  on  my 
church  study  door,  and  I  opened  it,  and  there  stood  a  faith- 
ful Sunday  school  teacher,  and  she  had  two  of  her  boys, 
each  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  she  said: 
'Tastor,  I  should  like  for  you  to  talk  with  these  two  boys. 
They  think  they  would  like  to  join  the  church  this  morn- 
ing, and  I  should  like  for  you  to  question  them,  to  see  if 
they  are  ready  for  that  great  step."  And  then  I  questioned 
them,  and  they  were  soon  earnestly  telling  me,  in  answer 
to  my  questions,  how  this  Sunday  school  teacher  had 
hunted  them  out,  and  had  talked  with  them  personally  and 
alone  during  the  past  week,  and  how  she  had  so  explained 
the  necessity  and  the  happiness  and  usefulness  of  being 
a  Christian,  that  they  could  not  say  no,  and  had  said  yes 
to  Jesus.  They  knew  that  He  was  the  Savior,  and  not 
somebody  else,  and  not  something  else,  and  they  were  trust- 
ing alone  in  Him.  Their  way  was  clear,  their  confession 
beautiful,  their  knowledge  of  Jesus  evident,  and  they  came 
into  the  church  that  day.  How  glorious  that  a  Sunday 
school  teacher  understands:  "I  am  a  shepherd  of  souls, 
and  I  must  watch  as  one  who  must  give  account,  and  I 
cannot,  must  not,  dare  not,  ignore  the  highest  claims  of 
these  in  my  class,  namely,  their  spiritual  needs." 

And  then  sometimes  a  friend  goes  out  and  wins  his 
friend  to  Christ.  Oh,  what  proof  of  friendship  is  compar- 
able to  that,  where  one  person  goes  to  another,  and  in 
humble,  careful,  winsome,  prayerful  words,  seeks  to  win 
that  other  to  Christ,  and  succeeds!  What  finer  proof  of 
friendship  than  that! 

And  how  glorious  when  the  Christian  wife  seeks  ways, 
with  all  humility  and  diligence  and  prayerfulness,  to  win 
her  unbelieving  husband  to  Christ !  One  of  those  unbeliev- 
ing husbands,  who  held  out  long  and  late  against  Jesus, 
said  to  me  recently,  when  he  came  to  talk  to  me  about 
coming  into  the  church :    "Oh,  sir,  the  tears,  the  very  tears 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  231 

of  my  Christian  wife  haunted  me,  as  she  would  say  just 
a  little  to  me  about  how  she  yearned  for  me  to  be  a  Chris- 
tion,  about  how  she  prayed  for  me.  She  said  just  a  little, 
but  her  very  tears  haunted  me."  . 

Most  people,  I  take  it,  are  brought  to  Christ  by  one  f 
person.  But  there  are  cases  that  require  more  than  one. 
There  are  cases  that  require  extra  effort.  There  are  cases 
that  require  combination,  consolidation,  co-operation,  even 
of  the  noblest  sort.  Our  Bible  study  to-day  presents  such 
a  case.  Here  was  a  paralyzed  man.  He  could  not  get  to 
Jesus  at  all.  He  was  unable  to  betake  himself  there.  One 
man  could  not  get  him  there.  It  was  a  task  too  difficult 
for  two  men,  and  so  it  came  about  that  four  men  combined 
to  carry  that  man,  on  his  bed,  sick  man,  bed  and  all,  into 
the  house  where  Jesus  was  teaching,  that  the  great  and 
gracious  Healer,  as  well  as  Teacher  and  Lord,  might  cure 
this  man.  When  they  came  to  the  house  where  Jesus  was 
teaching,  it  was  so  thronged  that  they  could  not  get  in. 
Oh,  the  pathos  of  the  whole  scene!  The  house  was 
crowded  with  people,  who  did  not  care  to  heed  the  Christ 
themselves — who  carped  and  caviled  and  criticised,  if  haply 
they  might  find  fault  with  something  Jesus  should  say  or 
do.  They  were  not  willing  to  go  into  the  kingdom  them- 
selves, and  worse  than  that,  they  crowded  the  doorway 
and  blocked  the  entrance,  so  that  others,  who  did  wish  to 
reach  the  Master,,  should  be  kept  out.  So  these  four  came 
and  could  not  enter.  No  place  was  allowed  them  to  enter. 
But,  not  to  be  deterred,  they  took  that  man,  bed  and  all, 
to  the  housetop  and  removed  the  tiling,  and  let  him  down 
through  the  roof,  bed,  sick  man  and  all,  right  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus.  And  when  Jesus  saw  their  faith.  He  said  unto 
the  sick  man:  *'Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee."  He  did  the 
first  thing  first.  He  put  forth  His  power  for  the  cure  of 
his  soul  first,  and  then  the  cure  of  the  body  came  after- 
ward, and  we  are  never  to  lose  sight  of  this  divine  order. 
The  supreme  thing  is  for  men's  sins  to  be  forgiven.  The 
supreme  thing  is  that  men's  souls  may  be  made  right  in 
the  sight  of  God.  Jesus  first  of  all  cured  this  man's  sick 
soul,  and  then  later  cured  his  body. 

Will  you  think  earnestly  on  this  record  of  how  this 


232  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

man  was  brought  to  Jesus?  Four  men  combined  to  bring 
him,  and,  I  repeat,  there  are  cases  about  us  that  will  never 
be  brought  to  Jesus,  except  by  combined  and  extraordinary 
effort.  And  we  need  to  see  them  and  find  them  and  com- 
bine to  help  them.  These  four  were  necessary  to  get  this 
dreadfully  difficult  case  to  Christ.  It  was  a  task  too  much 
for  one,  too  much  for  two.  It  was  a  task  requiring  the 
four,  and  such  cases  are  about  us,  and  this  morning  I  am 
seeking  to  give  emphasis  to  the  doctrine  that  such  cases, 
though  difficult  and  pre-occupied,  and  far  away  from  God's 
favor  and  forgiveness,  ought  to  have  our  most  conscien- 
tious, most  co-operative,  most  capable  attention.  There  is 
not  the  case  of  a  single  man  or  woman  in  Fort  Worth, 
no  matter  how  pre-occupied,  or  absorbed,  or  old,  or  wicked, 
or  sinful,  no  matter  what  the  case,  or  who  the  case  may 
be — there  is  not  one  that  God's  people  ought  to  pass  by, 
arguing;  "Their  cases  are  too  hard,  too  difficult,  too  hope- 
less."   There  is  not  one  such  case. 

One  morning  I  preached  in  another  city,  and  said:  "I 
wish  you  would  do  the  unusual  thing  to  win  souls ;  I  wish 
you  would  do  the  extraordinary  thing.  I  wish  you  would 
go  to  cases  maybe  that  nobody  has  spoken  to  about  Jesus 
for  a  whole  generation."  And  four  men  tarried  behind 
and  said:  "The  most  difficult  case  in  this  community  is 
a  half-paralyzed  man.  With  extreme  effort,  he  drags  along, 
with  his  crutches  and  a  man  supporting  him,  and  he  is 
the  most  blasphemous  sinner  in  all  this  city."  I  said: 
"Gentlemen,  I  would  have  you  go  after  him.  You  bring 
him  to  the  outskirts  of  this  meeting,  and  put  him  in  a 
comfortable  chair,  and  God  help  me,  I  will  do  my  best  to 
help  him."  And  so  they  went,  four  of  them,  and  at  first 
he  mocked  them.  He  derided  them.  He  laughed  at  them. 
He  jeered  at  them.  He  swore  at  them.  And  then  at  last 
he  listened  a  little  more  seriously,  and  then  he  pleaded  his 
inability,  he  pleaded  his  pitiful  impotency,  and  then  at  last, 
the  men  said:  "We  will  come  and  carry  you.  We  love 
you  that  much.  We  will  put  you  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
congregation  so  you  shall  not  have  anybody  to  run  over 
you  or  to  take  advantage  of  you."  And  so  they  brought 
him,  and  they  whispered  to  me  that  he  was  there,  and  told 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  233 

me  where  he  sat,  and  I  observed  him  in  a  moment,  and  that 
day  I  preached  to  one  man — impotent,  paralyzed,  broken 
and  helpless — about  the  wonderful  mercy  of  God,  to  make 
a  man  over,  to  transform  him,  to  reconstruct  him,  to  re- 
deem him,  to  recover  him,  to  forgive  him,  to  fit  him  to  live, 
to  fit  him  to  die,  to  fit  him  for  earth,  to  fit  him  for  heaven. 
Jesus  does  all  that,  if  only  a  man  will  come  to  Him  in  the 
right  way.  And  then  I  said:  "Is  there  some  man  here, 
all  broken  and  beaten  and  defeated,  who  would  like  to  be 
right  with  God.  Maybe  he  has  waited  long.  Maybe  the 
sun  of  his  life  is  far  in  the  afternoon.  Maybe  the  sun  is 
now  sinking  low  toward  the  w^estern  hills.  Now,  if  such 
man  is  here  and  he  wants  to  be  right  with  God,  God  waits 
to  be  gracious  to  him.  Does  he  wish  to  be  right  with  God? 
Will  he  lift  up  his  hand  and  let  me  see?"  And  the  first 
hand  to  go  up  was  the  hand  of  the  half-paralyzed  man. 
Then  I  dismissed  the  people  a  few  minutes  later,  and  sought 
him  out,  and  before  the  men  carried  him  away,  the  man 
had  humbly  made  his  surrender  to  Christ.  Oh,  it  was 
well,  for  the  days  were  just  a  few  until  the  second  stroke 
came  and  carried  him  into  eternity.  The  extraordinary 
thing  ought  to  be  done  for  such  people,  all  about  us,  and 
done  speedily  and  unceasingly. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  noble  lawyer  in  Waco.  I  shall 
mention  his  name.  If  he  were  living,  he  would  not  object. 
He  is  now  in  God's  house  above.  His  family,  I  doubt  not, 
would  not  object  to  such  mention  of  his  name.  This  noble 
lawyer  and  outstanding  citizen  was  Judge  Waller  Baker. 
These  lawyers  present  all  knew  him.  Some  years  ago, 
when  a  preacher  preached  in  Waco,  he  said  to  his  audience : 
"Oh,  men,  do  not  go  on  in  the  ordinary,  commonplace  way, 
in  the  winning  of  souls.  Go  after  a  case  difficult.  Go  after 
a  case  long  neglecting,  pre-occupied,  too  busy  to  come  to 
God ;  go  after  him,  and  if  you  do  not  do  the  extraordinary 
thing,  and  put  forth  the  unusual  efl^ort,  you  will  not  even 
arrest  his  attention.  Go  after  him."  And  when  the  ser- 
mon was  done,  another  lawyer  in  the  audience,  himself  a 
distinguished  jurist  and  Christian  citizen,  gathered  some 
men  around  him  and  said :  "If  three  of  you  men  will  join 
me,  we  will  go  after  this  great  lawyer."    They  combined, 


234  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  four  of  them,  and  they  went  that  afternoon.  The  law- 
yer was  preparing  a  difficult  case,  and  he  had  left  word 
with  his  stenographer,  in  the  outer  room:  "Do  not  admit 
anybody  to  my  inner  room  at  all.  I  must  not  be  disturbed. 
A  serious  case  is  on  me  now."  But  the  stenographer  had 
left  the  room  a  minute  before  they  came,  and  she  was 
not  there  to  forbid  their  going  in,  and  into  the  room  they 
went,  and  then  they  knocked  on  that  inner  door,  and  it 
opened,  and  there  was  the  lawyer,  with  his  coat  off,  deep 
in  the  preparation  of  that  serious  case,  and  he  said :  "How 
did  you  men  get  past  my  stenographer?"  They  said:  "We 
did  not  see  any  stenographer."  And  so  they  were  in  the 
office,  and  the  door  was  shut,  and  he  said  to  them :  "Gen- 
tlemen, there  must  be  something  very  serious  that  can 
bring  you  four  men  here."  The  great  Christian  lawyer 
made  answer:  "There  is,  Mr.  Baker;  the  most  serious 
matter  in  the  world,  and  I  will  speak  first,  and  I  want  first 
of  all  to  ask  you  to  forgive  me,  that  I  have  been  such  a 
poor  Christian,  that  I  have  not  talked  with  you  more  earn- 
estly about  Christ  and  His  supreme  claims,  and  your  need 
of  Him.  But  we  have  come,  we  four  men,  to  ask  if  you 
won't  cease  all  your  procrastination,  and  if  you  won't,  for 
your  own  sake,  and  for  Waco's  sake,  and  for  the  world's 
sake,  and  for  Christ's  sake,  to-day  yield  yourself  to  Christ." 
And  then  the  second  man  made  his  plea,  and  the  third 
man  said  his  say,  and  the  fourth  man  made  his  appeal,  and 
then  the  first  man  said:  "If  you  won't  mind,  let  us  kneel 
down  and  all  of  us  be  little  children,  and  we  will  ask  God 
to  help  you  to  burn  all  the  bridges,  give  up  indecision  and 
delay,  and  do  the  extraordinary  thing — yield  yourself  right 
now  to  Christ."  And  down  they  went  on  their  knees,  and 
all  four  of  them  prayed,  each  for  a  moment,  and  when  they 
rose  up  Mr.  Baker  said:  "Gentlemen,  I  cannot,  will  not, 
hold  out  against  this.  I  do  surrender  to  Christ.  May  God 
forgive  me  that  I  did  not  do  it  long  ago.  I  do  surrender  to 
Christ.  Oh,  it  is  so  unselfish  for  you  four  men,  my  friends, 
my  neighbors,  to  come  after  me  like  this!  I  do  surrender 
to  Christ,  now  and  forever."  Wasn't  it  glorious?  Now, 
just  a  little  while  after  that,  I  was  in  Los  Angeles,  speak- 
ing there  in  the  Temple  Auditorium,  and  one  morning, 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  235 

when  I  had  finished  my  sermon,  I  saw  before  me  a  sympa- 
thetic face  in  the  press  of  people,  and  when  I  had  said  the 
benediction  at  the  close,  quickly  he  came  to  me.  It  was 
the  same  Waller  Baker,  out  there  on  the  Pacific  coast,  get- 
ting some  needed  rest,  and  he  said :  "They  have  told  you 
about  what  I  did?"  I  said:  "Oh,  I  know  all  about  it,  Mr. 
Baker.  Thank  God  !"  He  said :  "At  last  I  am  on  the  right 
road — at  last!"  He  went  on  to  San  Francisco,  perhaps 
that  night,  or  a  day  or  two  later,  and  I  returned  to  my  Texas 
home,  and  before  I  reached  my  home,  when  I  reached  El 
Paso,  the  daily  papers  had  chronicled  the  news  that  the 
evening  before,  as  Mr.  Baker  was  leisurely  walking  down 
the  streets  of  San  Francisco,  he  sank  down  from  heart 
failure,  and  a  few  moments  later  was  dead.  When  I  read 
it,  this  was  my  first  thought:  What  if  four  men  had  not 
gone  to  him  as  they  did,  a  few  weeks  before,  to  win  him 
to  Christ?  Oh,  I  am  pleading  that  you,  citizens  and  neigh- 
bors and  friends,  shall,  in  the  right  spirit,  link  yourselves, 
with  God  to  guide  you,  and  empower  you,  and  go  after 
these  long  neglected  cases.  Pass  not  one  of  them  by.  Some 
of  them  are  rich,  but  their  money  won't  suffice  their  souls. 
Some  of  them  are  having  a  feverish  time  in  the  world  so- 
cial, but  society  will  not  ease  the  ache  of  a  sinful,  suffering 
heart.  Some  of  them  are  in  office,  are  pre-occupied,  and 
every  minute  is  crowded  as  they  clutch  after  the  prizes 
that  lure  them  on,  but  these  prizes,  each  and  all,  cannot 
ease  the  hurt  of  the  sinning  soul. 

I  am  summoning  you  this  morning  to  do  both  the  dif- 
ficult and  consistent  thing — to  go  after  such  cases  all  about 
you.  And  now  as  you  bethink  yourselves,  case  after  case 
will  stand  before  you.  I  am  beseeching  you  that  you  will 
combine  with  the  other  man,  and  you  twain  shall  plead 
that  promise  of  Jesus :  "If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth 
as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done 
for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  If  you  need 
two,  let  there  be  two  to  go,  all  unadvertised,  but  in  the 
quietness  and  patience  of  Christ.  Oh,  how  the  grotesque, 
and  the  absurd,  and  the  spectacular  in  religion  cheapens  and 
harms !  Our  Master's  cause  does  not  need  any  of  that.  In 
the  beautiful   spirit  of  humility,   with   quietness,   without 


236  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ostentation,  without  parade,  but  patiently,  prayerfully  and 
faithfully,  we  should  give  ourselves  to  this  Christly  task. 
I  summon  you  to  it  to-day,  even  as  I  summon  myself,  that 
our  conduct  in  the  days  to  be  may  be  far  more  consistent 
than  it  has  been  in  the  days  that  are  gone. 

Now,  the  lessons  in  this  incident  are  many,  and  they 
are  written  large  for  us.  Let  us  do  the  unusual  thing,  if 
that  be  necessary  to  get  the  attention  and  win  the  heart 
of  some  soul  that  has  missed  the  upward  way.  Let  us 
combine  and  co-operate.  Let  us  pray  together  and  go  to- 
gether, if  haply  by  such  earnest  effort  we  may  win  that 
difficult  case.  Pass  no  case  by.  Leave  no  case  unap- 
proached,  unhelped.  Take  them  as  you  can  see  them,  and 
bethink  you  concerning  them,  and  do  your  best  to  win  them 
to  Christ.  Oh,  my  brother  men  and  my  gentle  sisters,  let 
^us  care  for  human  souls  these  passing  summer  days  like 
we  ought! 

How  is  it  that  we  are  often  keenly  sensible  to  physical 
distress,  to  the  cry  of  the  body,  and  yet  of  the  deeper  dis- 
tress of  the  soul  we  are  often  unmindful  and  insensible? 
Why  is  it  that  we  do  not  care  like  we  ought  for  human 
souls?  For  one  reason,  I  say  we  do  not  care  because  we 
do  not  sufficiently  realize  their  condition.  Oh,  if  we  real- 
ized that  outside  of  Christ  the  battle  is  lost  for  a  human 
soul,  surely  that  realization  would  bestir  us  to  make  the 
best  effort  for  them  possible.  Many  a  time  we  are  quiet 
and  uncommunicative  touching  human  souls,  because  we 
realize  so  keenly  our  own  unworthiness.  Let  me  be  per- 
sonal for  a  moment  to  say  that  if  I  had  waited  until  I  felt 
worthy  to  approach  a  human  soul — worthy  in  myself — I 
would  have  been  dumb  as  death  on  such  subject  all  these 
years  I  have  been  a  Christian.  I  never  saw  the  day  that 
I  felt  worthy,  for  one  second,  to  speak  to  anybody  about 
his  soul.  I  must  say,  with  the  apostle  of  old:  "I  know 
that  in  me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing.'* 
If  I  had  waited  until  I  felt  personally  worthy  to  Join  the 
church,  I  should  never  have  joined  any  church.  If  I  had 
waited  until  I  felt  personally  worthy  to  preach  the  gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God,  I  should  never  have  preached  one 
jtime.     Oh,  we  are  not  to  preach  ourselves  at  all,  but  to 


A  CONQUERING  FAITH  237 

preach  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  Many  a  time  we  ought  to 
begin  our  conversation  with  an  humble  confession  of  our 
own  pitiful  frailties  and  weaknesses,  and  then  go  on  to 
say  to  the  friend  whom  we  approach:  "I  do  not  preach 
myself — ^you  must  understand  that.  I  preach  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord."  All  our  worthiness  comes  from  Christ  Jesus, 
"who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteousness, 
and  sanctification,  and  redemption,  that,  according  as  it 
is  written,  He  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord." 

Two  business  men  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  lived 
side  by  side.  One  was  a  church  man,  and  had  been  for 
long  years,  and  the  other  a  non-church  man.  The  church 
man  went  to  church  every  Sunday  morning,  and  the  non- 
church  man  went  never  at  all.  But  they  came  into  the 
city  from  its  suburbs  every  week  day  morning,  on  the 
trolley,  to  perform  their  tasks  in  the  city,  and  through  the 
long  years  they  went  back  and  forth  on  the  train  together 
every  week  day.  It  came  about,  in  the  strange  providence 
of  God,  that  both  were  sick  unto  death  at  the  same  time. 
Each  lay  upon  the  dying  bed  the  same  day,  and  the  non- 
church  man's  wife,  herself  a  Christian,  was  in  such  an 
agony  about  him  that  she  was  constrained  to  say:  "Hus- 
band, wouldn't  you  like  for  a  good  Christian  man  to  come 
and  talk  with  you  about  religion — ^you  are  very  sick."  And 
he  slowly  shook  his  head  and  said :  "Not  at  all.  My  neigh- 
bor, Mr.  So-and-so,  is  a  church  man,  and  in  all  these  long 
years  we  have  ridden  thousands  of  miles  together,  and 
we  have  talked  about  every  subject  upon  which  men  con- 
verse, but  he  has  never  said  a  word  to  me  about  religion. 
Why,  there  could  not  be  anything  in  it,  if  a  church  man, 
who  has  been  with  me  hundreds  of  days  and  has  traveled 
with  me  thousands  of  miles,  has  never  essayed  to  speak 
to  me  one  word  about  religion.  If  he  could  pass  such  sub- 
ject by  through  these  long  years,  and  be  silent  about  it,  I 
will  go  away  just  like  I  am."  And  so  he  died.  Oh,  if  we 
would  realize  as  we  ought  the  peril  and  the  worth  of  souls ! 
The  hour  will  be  gone  in  two  minutes  more.  Oh,  if  we 
would  realize  as  we  ought  the  peril  and  worth  of  souls! 
Won't  you  parents  realize  before  it  is  too  late? 

I  went  to  a  dying  son  in  Dallas,  and  did  my  best  to 


238  :a:  quest  for  souls 

win  him,  and  finally  I  said  to  him:  *'0h,  my  boy,  how 
much  your  father  is  interested  in  you !"  And  then  search- 
ingly  he  looked  at  me  out  of  his  deep,  sad  eyes,  and  he 
said:  *'What  is  that?"  I  said:  "Your  father  is  so  inter- 
ested in  you.  He  sobbed  about  your  religious  condition 
to-day  as  we  talked.  I  have  come  to  you  at  his  request." 
And  then  he  looked  at  me  long  and  hungrily,  and  said: 
"Isn't  that  strange  ?  Father  never  said  a  word  to  me  about 
religion  in  all  his  life."  Strange?  Why,  it  is  horrible! 
Strange  ?  Why,  it  is  atrocious !  Strange  ?  Why,  it  is  mon- 
strous !  Strange  ?  Why,  it  is  criminal !  Why,  that  kind  of 
conduct  feeds  hell  on  hope,  and  is  enough  to  put  crepe  on 
the  door  to  God's  heaven  above!  Parents,  speak  the  all- 
important  word  now  to  your  children.  Oh,  my  fellow-men, 
citizens,  toilers  at  all  life's  tasks,  professional  men,  business 
men,  speak  the  right  word  now  to  your  friends!  Oh,  ye 
who  love  the  Lord,  get  you  to-day  at  this  task,  like  you 
ought — this  task  of  winning  souls ! 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now  we  appeal  to  thee,  O  God,  who  heareth  prayer,  to  lodge  thy  truth 
in  our  every  heart.  O,  make  us  to  be  right  in  thy  sight,  concerning  this  greatest 
of  all  causes — that  of  winning  lost  people  to  Christ.  We  would  repent  of  every 
evil  way  ourselves.  We  would  bow  our  hearts  to  the  very  dust,  because  we  have 
been  so  inconsistent,  so  frail,  our  lives  so  incongruous  as  Christians,  saved  and 
called  to  win  souls.  We  have  been  so  often  neglectful  of  duty.  We  have  allowed 
little  things  to  turn  us  from  the  plain  course  of  right.  We  have  allowed  people 
to  hurt  our  testimony  for  Christ.  We  have  allowed  checkered  experiences  thus 
to  hurl;  us.  O  Jesus,  Master,  blessed  Savior,  make  these  thy  people  to  be  right 
in  thy  sight  this  day,  and  fit  them  for  their  matchless  task  of  pointing  people  to 
the  heavenly  way.  And  we  pray  thee  for  thy  saving  favor  upon  all  this  city. 
O,  grant  that  during  these  midsummer  days  the  people  may  hear  in  the  right 
way,  from  lips  which  God  will  anoint,  the  right  sort  of  appeals  concerning  per- 
sonal religion.  And  may  the  difficult  cases — the  hardened,  the  aged,  the  sinful, 
the  duty-neglecting,  the  deeply  backslidden,  the  God-forgetting,  whoever  and 
wherever  such  people  may  be — may  they  all  and  each  be  properly  approached  by 
these  friends  of  God,  to  the  end  that  every  such  case  may^  be  won  to  Christ. 
And  may  there  be  no  vain  confidence  in  arms  of  flesh  for  this  superhuman  task. 
May  our  confidence  all  be  stayed  on  God,  and  may  He  guide  us  and  empower  us 
at  every  step  by  His  own  omnific  Spirit,  so  that,  night  and  day,  we  shall  do  His 
will    these   passing    days. 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God,  even  of  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Spirit,  be  granted  you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.    Amen. 


XVII 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  20,  1917, 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Through  these  several  days  of  the  meeting,  many  touch- 
ing requests  have  reached  us,  by  letter  and  otherwise, 
asking  specially  for  prayer  for  certain  specified  objects.  I 
wish  I  had  time  to  read  you  these  many  requests.  Time 
and  again,  parents  have  requested  that  groups  of  Chris- 
tians in  these  meetings,  would  join  the  parents  in  prayer 
for  their  sons  and  daughters.  Time  and  again,  modest, 
shrinking,  but  devoted  wives,  have  asked  certain  praying 
ones  quietly — and  that  is  the  better  way  for  it  to  be  asked— 
that  they  would  join  them  in  special  prayer  for  their  hus- 
bands. And  friend  after  friend,  a  large  group  of  friends, 
have  presented  their  friends,  saying  to  men  and  women  here 
and  there  in  the  meeting:  "Won't  you  join  us  in  special 
prayer  for  these  friends?"  Now  I  indicate  these  requests  in 
this  way,  that  you  may  be  much  in  prayer  for  them  all.  Note 
after  note  has  reached  me,  in  which  the  request  has  been 
made  that  the  whole  multitude  be  asked  to  join  in  special 
prayer  for  definite  persons.  The  limits  of  the  hour  would 
not  allow  for  such  notes  to  be  read,  even  if  it  were  proper 
to  read  them,  but  the  fact  is  a  most  challenging  call  to 
us  to  be  much  in  prayer.  1  should  like  for  us  in  a  moment 
to  make  mention  of  these  requests,  every  one,  to  Him  who 
knoweth  all  about  each  case,  in  a  special  prayer.  And  yet 
before  we  offer  that  prayer,  I  should  like  to  give  others 
the  privilege  of  voicing,  in  just  one  moment,  when  I  shall 

239 


240  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

indicate,  their  special  requests  for  prayer.  I  shall  put  it 
by  groups,  by  sections  of  people,  as  I  ask  that  question. 
I  should  like,  if  there  are  parents  here,  whose  children  are 
not  yet  saved,  and  you  would  have  all  these  who  pray 
to  join  you  in  prayer  for  them,  to  witness  to  such  desire 
by  lifting  the  hand  for  a  moment,  as  my  eye  shall  glance 
over  the  audience.  I  see — there  are  many  hands  that  are 
lifted.  That  is,  indeed,  an  appealing  sight.  I  should  like 
again  to  see  every  person  here  whose  heart  has  some  per- 
son or  persons  for  whose  spiritual  welfare  you  yearn,  for 
whose  salvation  you  pray,  and  you  would  like  for  us  to 
join  you  in  such  prayer,  manifest  it  by  lifting  your  hand 
as  my  eye  shall  again  glance  over  the  audience.  Oh,  there 
are  many!  And  in  this  choir,  let  me  see.  I  trust  every 
member  of  this  choir  loves  Christ.  How  indebted  we  are 
to  them  for  their  devotion !  Very  helpful  is  the  part  that 
they  render  in  a  meeting  like  this,  and  we  are  profoundly 
grateful  to  them.  Your  every  hand  was  lifted.  There  were 
many,  many,  many  wishes  voiced  by  the  uplifted  hands, 
just  now.  God  saw  and  knows  about  every  case  that  was 
indicated  by  such  uplifted  hands.  Let  us  pause  a  moment 
to  speak  to  Him  now,  in  their  behalf. 

THE  OPENING  PRAYER. 

We  would  wait  upon  thee,  O  God,  yet  a  moment  longer,  at  the  throne  of 
grace.  We  bring  thee  all  these  requests  for  prayer,  and  pray  thee  to  visit  each 
one  with  light  and  love,  with  mercy  and  grace,  in  thine  own  time  and  way. 
Regard,  we  beseech  thee,  these  parents,  whose  uplifted  hands  witnessed  te  the 
alarming  fact  that  they  have  children  who  are  out  of  the  ark  of  safety.  O,  may 
parental  interest  for  the  salvation  of  such  children  be  so  quickened  and  deepened 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  all  these  parents  will,  by  precept  and  example,  go  to 
the  utmost  of  devotion  to  win  their  children  to  Christ. 

And  we  unite  our  prayers  with  those  of  these  wives,  who  ill  one  way  or 
another  have  indicated  their  deep  concern  that  their  lost  husbands  might  be  saved. 
O,  strengthen  thou  the  faith  of  every  Christian  wife  whose  husband  is  an  unbe- 
liever, and  speak  to  such  unbelieving  husband  through  the  wife,  or  in  any  way 
thou  wilt,  thou  sovereign  Savior,  so  that  he  shall  be  saved._  O,  grant  that  these 
Christian  wives  may  not  always  have  to  go  life's  way  alone  in  the  deepest,  highest 
things,  but  may  they  have  their  husbands  with  them,  that  wife  and  husband,  the 
mother  and  father,  together  may  journey  on  in  the  heavenly  way,  and  there  bring 
with  them  tliose  whom  thou  hast  given  them. 

And  we  pray  with  every  friend  here  to-night,  whose  uplifted  hand  witnessed 
to  the  fact  that  he  or  she  had  some  person  or  persons  for  whose  salvation  they 
would  pray.  We  would  unite  our  prayers  with  them,  for  every  person  repre- 
sented. And  if  it  would  please  thee,  O  Lord,  for  these  men  and  women  to^  go 
in  person  and  speak  to  such  lost  ones  concerning  Christ  and  His  great  salvation, 
whatever  their  modesty,  whatever  their  timidity,  whatever  their  sense  of  un- 
worthiness  and  of  unfitness,  yet  let  them  go,  clinging  to  Christ  to  guide  and  help 
them.  May  there  be  such  worthy  personal  attention  to  souls,  such  right  approach 
to  souls,  by  these  all  about  us  who  care  for  souls,  that  God  will  come  with 
divine  reinforcement,  and  make  their  witnessing  triumphantly  efiFective  in  winning 
manv  to  Christ.  Lord,  help  every  one,  here  and  there  and  everywhere  who  is 
engaged  in  this  great  work.  Quicken  our  consciences  until  they  shall  bum  with 
personal  concern  for  the  salvation  of  the  people.     May  every  one  of  us  utterly 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  241 

refuse  to  allow  tbe  painful  consciousness  of  our  unworthlness  and  our  unfitness 
to  deter  us  from  the  holiest  work  of  all — the  converting  of  sinners  from  the 
error  of  their  ways.  Give  us  ever  to  remember  that  we  watch  for  souls  as  they 
who  must  give  account  to  God.  May  we  so  watch  that  when  we  give  our  accoimt 
to  God  we  shall  give  such  account  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief.  And  may  the 
Divine  Spirit  guide  us  in  all  these  visits,  in  all  these  conversations,  in  all  these 
approaches  to  human  souls.  We  would  utterly  yield  ourselves  to  Him  for  His 
light  and  leading.  We  would  be  led,  literally  and  utterly  and  only,  of  God.  We 
would  have  divine  wisdom  to  guide  us  at  every  step,  so  that  we  may  do  that  only 
which  will  please  Christ  our   Lord. 

May  the  service  to-night  be  altogether  under  the  divine  direction.  May  the 
preacher  speak  just  as  Christ  would  have  him  speak.  May  he  have  the  temper 
that  will  have  Christ's  approval.  May  these  hearts  all  be  opened  by  the  great, 
good  Spirit  Divine,  so  that  they  shall  heed  the  word  that  shall  be  spoken.  In 
all  this  throng  of  people,  may  the  men  and  women,  and  even  the  boys  and  girls, 
now  open  their  hearts  and  minds,  that  they  may  respond  just  as  God  would  have 
them  respond,  to  the  call  of  His  own  truth.  May  His  will,  whatever  it  is,  be 
accomplished  through  us  and  with  us  this  night.  We  pray  in  Christ's  conquering 
name.     Amen. 

THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN. 

Text:  "If  we  confess  our  sins.  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins." — I  John  1;  9. 

This  is  the  text:  "If  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful 
and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins."  It  is  from  the  first  chap- 
ter of  John's  first  epistle.  Its  primary  application  is  mani- 
festly for  Christians,  as  the  context  indicates,  but  its  gra- 
cious truth  may  be  applied  to  all  who  sin,  and  are  there- 
fore in  need  of  God's  forgiving  mercy. 

Somebody  has  well  said  that  the  three  hardest  words 
to  say  like  they  ought  to  be  said  are  these:  ''I  have 
sinned."  You  will  grant  the  truth  of  that  saying  upon  a 
brief  moment's  reflection.  The  three  most  difficult  words 
to  say  like  they  ought  to  be  said  are  these  three:  "I  have 
sinned."  And  yet  confession  of  sin  lies  right  at  the  founda- 
tion of  our  coming  to  Christ.  If  one  be  not  a  sinner,  then 
for  him  there  is  no  Savior.  For  him,  Christ's  gospel  does 
not  have  any  appeal,  if  one  be  not  a  sinner.  Jesus  tells  us : 
"They  that  are  whole  (or  well)  do  not  need  a  physician, 
but  they  that  are  sick."  And  again  Jesus  tells  us :  "I  did 
not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance." 
And  again  He  tells  us:  "The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

Oh,  are  you  a  sinner?  Then  I  preach  to  you  a  Savior, 
for  Jesus  came  to  seek  and  to  save  sinners.  Forgiveness  of 
sins  is  a  real  experience.  Sin  is  as  real  as  your  hand  or  eye. 
Sin  obtains  with  every  rational  soul.  The  forgiveness  of  sins 
is  as  real  as  the  sin  itself.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  to 
grant  forgiveness  of  sins.   Forgiveness  of  sins  is  a  personal 


242  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

experience — a  real  personal  experience.  There  can  be  no 
forgiveness  except  between  persons.  That  chair  could  not 
forgive  you.  That  tree  could  not  forgive  you.  That  beast  of 
the  field  could  not  forgive  you.  Forgiveness  is  always  be- 
tween persons.  Now  God,  the  Great  Person,  comes  to  you 
and  me,  the  little,  finite,  human,  mortal,  dependent,  sinning 
persons,  and  says  to  us :  "If  you  will  turn  to  me  with  right 
attitude,  I  will  forgive  your  sins."  Oh,  I  ask  you,  one  by  one, 
as  my  eye  sweeps  the  audience :  "Have  your  sins  been  for- 
given of  God?"  Could  you  lay  your  hand  upon  your  heart 
and  say:  "I  have  the  consciousness  within  me,  that  God 
has  forgiven  my  sins?"  I  would  press  that  upon  you,  one 
by  one — have  your  sins  been  forgiven  of  God?  And  I 
would  pray  you,  do  not  stop  until  you  can  give  a  complete, 
satisfactory  answer  to  that  great  question — have  your  sins 
been  forgiven  of  God? 

Our  text  tells  us,  "If  we  confess  our  sins.  He  is  faithful 
and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins."  Be  not  deceived,  I  pray 
you,  my  men  and  women,  on  this  crucial  point,  the  reality 
of  sin,  and  the  inescapable  fact  that  sin  must  be  confessed 
in  the  right  way,  if  we  are  ever  to  get  forgiveness  for  our 
sins.  Be  not  deceived  at  such  crucial  point,  the  fact  of 
sin  in  your  life  and  mine — the  awful  fact  of  sin.  There  are 
two  chief  causes  that  conspire  to  deceive  us  at  this  point, 
and  the  one  is  the  ignorance  that  we  have  of  our  own 
hearts.  Who  has  ever  sounded  the  depths  of  his  own 
heart?  Who  knows  every  secret  expression  and  bias  and 
motive  of  his  own  heart?  No  one  but  God  has  ever  sounded 
the  depths  of  a  rational,  responsible,  human  heart.  So  the 
proneness  is  constant  with  us  not  to  know  our  own  hearts. 
God  tells  us  in  His  Word,  pointblank,  that  "the  heart  is 
deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked:  who 
can  know  it?"  That  is  the  solemn  asseveration  of  God's 
Word.  "The  heart  is  deceitful  in  all  things  and  desper- 
ately wicked."  That  is  God's  own  indictment  of  the  hu- 
man heart. 

And  now,  if  we  will  pause  to  consider  how  the  human 
heart  treats  God,  we  will  see  how  wretchedly  sin  has  played 
havoc  with  the  human  heart.  Look  at  the  attitude  of  the 
human  heart  toward  God,  in  two  ways.     LoxDk  at  the  in- 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  245 

gratitude  of  the  human  heart  toward  God.  That  sin,  the 
sin  of  ingratitude,  is  one  of  our  commonest  sins,  and  surely 
one  of  our  wretchedest,  one  of  our  most  heinous  sins.  Oh, 
the  sin  of  ingratitude,  anywhere,  how  base,  how  bad  it  is! 
How  terrible  is  the  sin  of  ingratitude  of  a  child  toward  its 
parent.  "How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is  to  have 
a  thankless  child!"  said  the  great  dramatist.  Ingratitude 
anywhere  is  a  terrible,  most  represensible  fault.  Ingrati- 
tude even  among  men  is  despicable,  and  when  we  relate 
it  to  our  chiefest,  our  supremest  benefactor,  even  to  God, 
how  base,  how  terrible,  is  ingratitude  seen  to  be  in  His 
sight  God  gives  our  lives,  and  crowns  us  with  every 
mercy  and  blessing,  from  the  largest  to  the  least,  and  yet 
we  are  forgetful  and  indifferent  and  ungrateful  toward 
that  infinitely  benevolent  Being.  If  there  were  no  other 
motive  to  bring  every  rational  person  to  the  feet  of  Christ, 
this  motive  ought  to  bring  us  all — the  motive  of  gratitude. 
With  such  a  Friend  and  such  friendship,  such  mercy,  such 
patience,  such  kindness,  such  forbearance,  such  a  Friend 
ought  to  have  from  us  our  best  devotion  and  love.  The 
human  heart  is  deceived  by  sin,  and  that  drowns  the  ex- 
pression of  gratitude  to  God. 

And  then  the  human  heart,  in  its  deception,  may  be  seen 
in  our  disobedience  toward  God.  Obedience  is  a  mighty 
principle,  that  everywhere  must  work  its  mighty  sway. 
You  let  obedience  be  trifled  with  in  the  home,  and  the  home 
will  go  to  rack  and  confusion  and  ruin.  You  let  obedience 
be  trifled  with  in  the  school,  or  trifled  with  in  the  army, 
and  chaos  will  follow  such  trifling.  Now  when  we  think 
of  obedience  in  the  highest  realm  of  all,  even  obedience 
to  God,  which  is  the  chiefest  and  first  duty  of  every  human 
life,  and  when  we  remember  that  God,  the  holy  Lawgiver, 
with  His  laws  and  precepts  for  human  guidance  and  gov- 
ernment, is  trifled  with  and  disobeyed,  how  terrible  is  the 
fact  of  sin,  that  it  could  make  us  to  be  both  ungrateful 
and  disobedient  in  the  sight  of  God ! 

And  then  our  lack  of  recognition  of  the  undoing  power 
of  sin  in  human  life  comes  from  another  cause,  and  that 
is,  ignorance  of  God's  Word,  which  Word  reveals  God'g 
will  for  the  children  of  men.     The  one  supreme  standard 


244  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

by  which  all  conduct  and  character  and  creeds  shall  be 
tried  is  by  God's  Holy  Word.  God's  Holy  Word  is  the 
guide-book  to  point  men  and  women  in  the  right  way  for- 
ever. And  yet  ofttimes  we  do  not  know  what  that  Word 
says,  where  that  guide-book  points.  But  when  we  open 
its  pages  to  see  what  God  says  about  mankind,  there  it  is, 
luminous  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens  at  noontime.  When 
we  open  the  Scriptures,  there  stands  out  the  solemn  word 
of  God:  "God  looked  down  from  heaven,  to  see  if  there 
were  any  that  did  good,  and  there  was  not  one,  no,  not 
one."  We  open  the  Scriptures  and  read  again:  "There 
is  not  a  just  man  upon  the  earth,  that  doeth  good  and  sin- 
neth  not."  And  we  open  the  Scriptures  again  and  read 
them:  "There  is  no  difference.  For  all  have  sinned,  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  And  again  we  open  the 
Scriptures:  "Marvel  not  that  I  say  unto  you,  except  you 
are  bom  again,  born  from  above,  you  cannot  even  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  And  we  open  the  Scriptures  and  quote 
them  again:  "Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish." 

Now,  we  are  often  ignorant  of  what  the  Word  of  God 
says  about  human  conditions  and  human  character  and 
human  need  and  human  destiny,  which  ignorance  does  not 
excuse  us;  and  because  of  such  ignorance  of  God's  Word 
and  of  our  own  heart,  we  do  not  realize  as  we  ought  the 
undoing  and  destructive  power  of  sin  in  human  life.  Oh, 
my  fellow-men  and  women,  I  pray  you,  let  us  all  take  our 
proper  place  at  God's  feet,  and  realize  as  He  would  have 
us,  the  awful  fact  that  sin  has  come  with  its  crippling 
power  into  our  every  life,  and  we  must  have  deliverance 
from  such  sin,  we  must  have  absolution  from  it,  we  must 
have  forgiveness  for  it,  we  must  turn  from  it  to  be  saved 
from  its  fearful  penalty  and  power. 

And  now,  our  text  points  the  way  for  our  forgiveness 
and  recovery:  "If  we  confess  our  sins.  He  is  faithful  and 
just  to  forgive  us  our  sins."  Here  we  are  face  to  face  with 
the  solemn  matter  of  confessing  our  sins.  How  shall  we 
confess  our  sins  ?  Solemn  matter  that !  If  we  will  confess 
our  sins  in  the  proper  way,  we  shall  have  forgiveness  for 
them,  and  we  shall  be  saved  out  of  them  and  in.  spite  of 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  243 

them,  and  peace  here  and  forever  shall  be  our  portion.  How 
then  shall  we  confess  our  sins?  The  Bible  points  the  way 
for  us,  and  we  will  look  at  that  way  to-night.  The  Bible 
indicates  the  wrong  way,  that  we  may  be  warned  concern- 
ing such  way  and  refuse  to  walk  in  it.  The  Bible  gives  us 
case  after  case  of  men  who  confessed  their  sins,  but  in  the 
wrong  way,  to  their  own  hurt  and  undoing  and  destruc- 
tion. Let  us  look  at  such  wrong  way,  pointed  in  the  Bible 
for  us  that  we  may  be  warned  and  not  take  such  way.  I 
call  your  attention  to  two  or  three  cases  that  the  Bible 
holds  up  for  our  warning  and  counsel. 

Pharaoh  confessed  his  sins,  but  in  the  wrong  way.  Pha- 
raoh was  the  king,  as  you  recall,  down  in  Egypt,  and  the 
time  came  when,  under  heavy  pressure,  Pharaoh  made  con- 
fession of  his  sins.  You  remember  the  circumstances,  do 
you  not?  God  had  sent  Moses  a  little  while  before  this 
occasion,  to  tell  Pharaoh,  the  king,  that  he  must  let  the 
children  of  Israel  go  out  of  Egyptian  bondage  to  their 
appointed  land  yonder,  which  God  had  promised  His  chosen 
Israel.  Moses  stood  before  Pharaoh,  the  king,  and  gave 
the  king  the  message  from  God,  and  Pharaoh  scouted  it 
all.  Pharaoh  scornfully  mocked  it  all.  Pharaoh  said :  "Who 
is  God,  that  I  should  obey  Him?"  Pharaoh  said:  "I  am 
a  king  myself.  Leave  my  presence,"  said  Pharaoh  to 
Moses;  "I  will  do  as  I  please  with  these  slaves.  They 
shall  yet  grind  at  my  mills,  and  they  shall  yet  do  obeisance 
to  the  bidding  of  my  people."  And  Moses  went  his  way. 
But  God  has  His  own  ways  of  making  His  authority  and 
righteousness  effective.  You  recall  that  there  came  plague 
aftef  plague,  until  ten  plagues  fell  upon  Egypt  in  swift 
succession.  You  remember  that  the  water  was  everywhere 
turned  into  blood.  You  remembef  that  the  cattle  on  the 
hills  ^nd  in  the  valleys  were  stricken  with  murrain,  so  that 
presently  they  lay  (lea3  everywhere.  And  on  and  on  the 
terrible  plagues  fell  over  Egypt,  until  the  last  and  culmi- 
nating plague  came,  namely,  the  first-bom  in  every  Egyp- 
tian family,  whether  of  man  or  beast,  lay  dead  in  one  night. 
And  when  the  morning  came  there  was  wailing  throughout 
Egypt,  from  one  border  to  the  other,  for  the  first-born, 
both  of  man  and  beast,  lay  dead  in  every  Egyptian  family. 


246  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

At  last  Pharaoh  was  serious,  and  he  sent  for  God's  man, 
Moses,  and  when  Moses  confronted  him,  Pharaoh  said: 
*'I  have  sinned.  Go  tell  your  God  to  stay  these  clouds  of 
wrath  and  trouble  that  are  falling  upon  my  people.  I  have 
sinned.  I  relent.  I  change  my  way.  I  yield  to  God's  great 
call.  Tell  your  God  that,  and  I  change  my  way."  And 
Moses  prayed,  and  the  clouds  lifted  and  the  sunlight  came 
again  throughout  Egypt.  And  then  Moses  started  with  the 
children  of  Israel  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  God  had 
promised  them.  Yonder  Moses  goes,  with  that  nation  of 
spiritless  slaves  following  at  that  valiant  leader's  heels. 
Yonder  they  go.  Would  you  believe  it?  Pharaoh  took  it 
all  back.  Pharaoh  summoned  his  men  and  sent  them  in 
swift  haste  after  Moses  and  the  retreating  Israelites,  and 
said  to  his  men :  "Re-capture,  recover  them  all,  and  bring 
them  back,  that  they  may  yet  grind  at  our  mills."  And 
you  remember  how  they  pursued  the  retreating  hosts  led 
by  Moses,  until  they  came  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  God  by  a 
miracle  opened  that  sea,  and  Moses  with  the  hosts  crossed 
swiftly,  and  then  the  reckless,  presumptuous  champions 
of  Pharaoh  plunged  into  the  opened  sea,  and  the  standing 
mountains  of  water  came  down  to  submerge  them,  and 
they  were  destroyed.  Now,  this  case  is  typical  of  the  hard- 
ened sinner,  and  such  are  to  be  found,  I  fear,  in  every 
community  in  this  gospel  country — the  hardened  sinner; 
one  who  under  pressure  feels  and  hears  God's  call,  and 
relents  and  concedes,  and  makes  his  promises,  and  yet 
puts  them  all  away  and  goes  deeper  into  sin  and  darkness 
than  ever  before — the  type  of  the  hardened  sinner. 

Oh,  I  wonder  if  I  speak  to  such !  How  difficult  such  case 
is!  Years  ago  I  was  ready  to  close  the  midweek  prayer- 
meeting  where  I  was  pastor,  and  I  had  lifted  my  hands  for 
the  benediction,  and  the  people  were  standing,  and  just 
then  there  came  rapidly  to  the  church  door  one  of  our  phy- 
sicians— a  noble.  Christian  physician.  Oh,  how  great  a  thing 
for  a  physician  to  be  a  devout  Christian,  and  how  impor- 
tant! He  came  in  and  waved  his  hand  and  said:  "Pastor, 
have  the  people  to  be  seated.  I  have  a  statement  to  make." 
And  we  were  seated,  and  then  he  told  us  of  one  of  our  well- 
known  citizens,  whose  wife  was  a  devoted  Christian  and 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  247 

member  of  the  church.  He  told  us  how  ill  such  man  was, 
and  how  he,  the  doctor,  had  just  left  his  bedside,  where 
five  doctors  had  had  an  extended  consultation,  and  the  de- 
cision of  those  five  doctors  was  that,  speaking  after  the 
fashion  of  men,  the  great  citizen  had  already  passed  be- 
yond the  reach  of  materia  medica,  and  would  die  before 
morning.  **But,"  said  this  doctor  who  came  to  the  prayer- 
meeting,  "I  believe  in  God,  and  that  He  can  turn  the  battle 
back  from  the  gate  when  all  hands  human  are  helpless." 
Don't  you  prize  a  doctor  who  talks  like  that?  Then  said 
the  doctor:  *'We  told  this  citizen  just  what  his  case  was 
and  is,  and  he  was  utterly  horrified,  for  he  is  not  prepared 
to  die.  For  a  moment,  he  grasped  after  something,  and 
finally  he  said:  'Isn't  this  the  night,  Wednesday  night, 
when  the  people  meet  at  the  church  to  pray?'  The  doctor 
said:  *Yes,  it  is.'  Then  the  sick  man  said:  'Doctor,  you 
hasten  down  there  and  tell  those  people  where  my  wife 
goes  to  church — tell  those  people  who  pray — that  I  sol- 
emnly promise  that  if  God  will  spare  me,  and  raise  me  up 
from  this  sick  bed,  when  the  tide  is  turned  and  I  am  well, 
I  will  go  to  God's  house,  and  I  will  seek  His  face,  and  I 
will  follow  the  light  He  gives.' "  The  doctor  told  the  story, 
and  I  said:  "Every  head  will  be  bowed.  We  will  pray 
for  him."  And  I  led  the  people  in  that  prayer,  and  we 
commended  him  to  God,  and  we  begged  that  he  might  live, 
on  the  one  ground,  that  when  recovered  he  might  make 
good  his  pledge,  he  might  redeem  his  promise,  and  live 
thereafter  in  harmony  with  God.  The  next  morning  early, 
the  doctor  phoned  me  that  the  tide  had  turned,  and  that 
the  man  was  incomparably  better,  and  would  undoubtedly 
live;  and  day  by  day  that  was  the  word  that  came  from 
his  sick  bed,  where  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter,  save  the 
doctor  and  the  nurse  and  the  v/ife.  At  that  time,  I  visited 
another  community,  to  aid  in  some  gospel  meetings,  and 
was  gone  some  two  or  three  weeks.  When  I  came  back, 
and  made  inquiry,  they  said:  "He  is  out  on  the  streets, 
and  practically  well,"  and  a  few  minutes  after  my  inquiry, 
I  met  him  on  the  street,  face  to  face,  and  I  hurried  to  him, 
and  took  his  hand,  and  rejoiced  with  him  with  most  grate- 
ful joy.    And  then  I  said  to  him,  for  it  was  Saturday:  "You 


248  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

will  be  at  God's  house  with  us  to-morrow."  I  yet  held  his 
hand,  and  he  winced  and  said:  "Oh,  no!  I  am  behind 
with  my  mail.  I  have  a  large  number  of  letters  unan- 
swered. I  have  lost  so  much  time,  I  must  put  in  to-morrow 
looking  over  that  mail."  And  I  still  held  his  hand  and 
searched  his  heart,  as  I  looked  through  his  eyes,  and  said: 
"Oh,  no,  my  man !  You  will,  of  course,  be  at  God's  house 
to-morrow,  I  take  it."  He  winced  yet  more,  and  his  face 
colored  crimson,  and  he  said :  "I  know  what  you  are  think- 
ing about."  I  said:  "Indeed,  you  do."  He  said:  "I  was 
in  a  close  place.  I  had  to  do  something,  and  do  it  quickly, 
and  I  did  as  I  did.  But  I  cannot  be  at  church  to-morrow. 
I  am  behind  with  my  work.  I  will  be  there  later,  when 
I  get  up  with  my  work.  I  cannot  be  there  to-morrow."  I 
still  held  his  hand,  and  I  said:  "Man,  man!  You  have 
come  back  from  the  very  gates  of  the  grave.  You  have 
been  spared,  evidently,  in  answer  to  prayer,  on  your  high 
pledge  that  when  God  recovered  you.  He  should  have  your 
best.  Come  to  God's  house  to-morrow,  and  give  heed  ac- 
cording to  your  serious  pledge  to  Him."  He  fairly  rushed 
away  from  me,  as  he  said:  "Oh,  I  cannot!  By  and  by  I 
v/ill.  I  cannot  now.  Business  engrosses  me  now."  And 
he  was  gone,  and  the  wrecks  went  by,  and  he  never  came, 
and  a  group  of  citizens  were  making  ready  to  go  on  a  trip 
to  the  East,  a  group  of  business  men,  and  they  stood  there 
in  the  depot,  waiting  for  the  train,  all  chatting  happily, 
when  suddenly  this  man  trembled,  and  put  his  hands  to 
his  face,  and  before  the  others  could  realize  v/hat  was  hap- 
pening, he  fell  with  heavy  fall  there  on  the  depot  floor. 
The  ambulance  was  summoned,  and  the  doctor,  and  they 
carried  him  away  to  his  home.  But  the  hours  were  just  a 
few,  until  apoplexy  had  done  its  work,  and  all  unconscious, 
the  man  went  out  into  the  other  world  to  reap  the  harvest 
of  his  own  sowing.  The  physican  called  me  and  told  me 
the  tragical  ending  a  little  later,  and  for  days  and  days 
there  was  only  one  Scripture  that  swept  through  my  soul — 
this  Scripture:  "He  that  being  often  reproved  hardeneth 
his  neck,  shall  suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without 
remedy  1" 

Such  man  is  the  type  of  the  hardened  sinner,  the  sinner, 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  249 

who,  under  pressure,  makes  his  high  pledge  to  God,  and 
than  puts  it  all  away.  Such  sinner,  one  day,  finds  a  black 
Friday  enshrouding  the  whole  home.  A  loved  one  is  ill 
almost  unto  death.  The  black  shadow^s  throw  themselves 
everywhere  about  the  place,  and  the  man's  heart  is  in  his 
throat,  and  he  goes  out  alone  and  utters  one  cry,  over  and 
over  again.  He  walks  alone,  saying  two  little  words,  and 
those  words  a  cry:  *'0h,  God!  Oh,  God!"  And  on  and 
on  he  says  just  that:  ''Oh,  God!  Oh,  God!"  And  then, 
later  along,  he  gives  his  high  pledge  that,  if  God  will  turn 
the  battle  back  from  the  gate,  he  will  repent,  he  will  turn 
to  God.  And  that  vow  is  heard,  and  God's  mercy  is  shown, 
and  the  battle  is  turned  back  from  the  gate,  and  the  black 
Friday  passes,  and  the  man,  with  his  pledge,  goes  his  way 
and  forgets  it  all.  Oh,  do  I  speak  to  somebody  in  this  vast 
throng  to-night  who  has  forgotten  his  vows,  who  has  mur- 
dered his  covenant,  who  has  strangled  his  good  resolution? 
I  pray  you,  summon  yourself  again  to  the  right  consider- 
ation of  that  serious  promise  made  in  the  other  days. 

There  was  another  man  who  confessed  his  sins,  but  to 
no  good  purpose.  That  man  was  Balaam,  the  false  prophet, 
whose  story  is  told  for  us  in  the  Old  Testament.  You  re- 
call the  circumstances  under  which  Balaam  confessed  his 
sins.  He  was  in  the  presence,  one  day,  it  would  seem,  of 
a  good  man  on  his  death-bed,  and  that  scene  made  an 
impression  upon  Balaam  that  provoked  his  cry  of  the  con- 
fession of  sin.  He  saw  a  good  man  there  in  the  death 
chamber,  passing  away,  and  it  moved  Balaam  to  his  heart's 
depths — a  sight  that  is  never  to  be  forgotten,  to  see  a  good 
man  die,  or  to  see  a  bad  man  die.  It  is  a  sight  from  which 
there  is  no  getting  away.  When  I  see  how  my  people  can 
die,  I  come  back  to  my  pulpit  brave  as  a  lion  to  preach 
Christ's  gospel  to  the  world  —  when  I  see  how  Christ's 
friends  can  die.  So  it  would  seem  that  Balaam  saw  a  good 
man  die,  and  he  came  out  of  that  death  chamber  with  the 
cry:  "I  have  sinned.  Let  me  die  th«  death  of  the  right- 
eous, an^  let  my  last  end  be  like  his !"  That  was  his  prom- 
ise; that  was  his  prayer;  that  was  his  wish.  Would  you 
believe  it?  The  very  next  day  Balaam  took  it  all  back. 
The  very  next  day  Balaam  summoned  about  him  a  group 


250  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

of  men  whose  avowed  purpose  was  to  exterminate  from 
the  face  of  the  earth  all  of  God's  prophets  and  people,  and 
get  rid  of  them  every  one — the  very  next  day. 

What  about  this  man  Balaam?  He  is  the  type  of  the 
undecided  man,  the  type  of  the  vacillating,  hesitating,  ir- 
resolute, wavering  man ;  and  that  is  the  most  difficult  type 
of  all,  I  have  thought,  to  reach  with  the  gospel — the  man 
one  day  serious,  and  the  next  day  putting  it  all  away ;  one 
hour  saying:  "I  have  sinned.  Let  me  die  like  a  good  man 
ought  to  die,"  and  the  next  day  mocking  it  all.  He  is  the 
type  of  the  wavering  soul.  How  difficult  to  reach  such 
soul  with  the  gospel  of  grace!  For  convictions  not  fol- 
lowed get  fainter  and  die.  Impressions  not  followed  blow 
away  like  the  blossoms  are  blown  from  the  trees  in  the 
orchards  in  the  springtime.  Every  time  a  conviction  to 
do  a  duty  is  felt  and  not  followed,  the  life-blood  is  let  out 
and  the  soul  is  weaker.  Every  time  one's  duty  on  any 
subject  is  clear  and  plain,  and  the  man  hesitates,  through 
policy,  through  fear,  for  any  cause,  he  is  weaker  thereafter 
in  his  deepest  manhood.  Oh,  soul,  wavering,  irresolute,  un- 
decided soul,  how  difficult  to  reach  your  soul  with  the 
gospel !  The  alarm  clock  you  set  to  wake  you  in  the  morn- 
ing will  wake  you,  if  when  you  hear  it  you  will  obey  it 
and  rise  from  the  bed  promptly  in  response  to  the  sum- 
mons. But  you  let  that  alarm  be  sounded,  and  you  turn 
over  and  say:  'T  will  sleep  a  little  more;  I  will  take  a 
dozen  minutes,  or  half  an  hour,"  and  trifle  with  the  cloclc 
like  that,  and  keep  that  up  a  little  while,  aiiH  you  may  put 
that  clock  under  your  pillow  at  last,  and  it  will  give  its 
alarm  as  usual,  but  you  will  sleep  the  sound  slumber,  and 
will  not  respond  at  all.  Oh,  like  that  there  comes  in  the 
awful  power  that  undoes  the  soul,  when  one  hears  and  feels 
and  knows  that  duty  calls,  and  yet  puts  it  all  away,  as  did 
this  man  Balaam. 

There  was  another  man  I  woulii  name,  who  confessed 
his  sins  to  no  good  purpose,  but  made  his  case  worse,  and 
that  was  that  man  Achan,  a  soldier  in  Joshua's  army.  You 
recall  the  circumstances,  do  you  not,  under  which  he  made 
his  confession  of  sin?  A  soldier  he  was  in  Joshua's  army, 
and  specific  directions  had  been  given  for  the  guidance 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  251 

and  government  of  such  army,  and  there  was  a  fixed  pen- 
alty, severe  and  terrible,  if  such  directions  should  be  trifled 
with  by  the  soldiers.  Away  they  went  to  the  conflict,  led 
by  Joshua,  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  Joshua's  army,  brave 
and  mighty,  was  completely  routed,  and  the  hearts  of  hio 
men  were  poured  out  like  v/ater,  and  they  fled  like  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  hills,  and  Joshua  was  on  his  face,  ashamed 
and  broken-hearted  because  of  the  shameful  defeat.  And 
God  said  to  him:  "Get  thee  up,  Joshua,  and  search  the 
army,  and  thou  wilt  find  the  reason  for  the  fearful  fail- 
ure." And  you  recall  that  the  whole  army  was  searched, 
company  by  company,  regiment  by  regiment,  man  by  man, 
the  whole  army,  and  at  last  the  searchers  came  to  the  last 
company,  came  to  the  right  man,  and  put  their  finger  on 
the  right  man,  who  was  the  culprit,  who  had  made  the 
mischief,  who  had  wrought  the  awful  defeat,  and  this  man 
was  led  away  to  meet  his  awful  penalty  in  death.  And  as 
he  was  thus  led  away,  poor,  doomed  Achan  blurted  out 
his  confession,  "I  have  sinned,"  as  they  led  him  away  to 
the  awful  penalty  of  death.  Oh,  I  do  not  need  to  follow 
Achan  further,  to  ask  what  became  of  him !  I  do  not  know. 
But  I  do  need  to  say,  with  all  the  emphasis  with  which  I 
can  marshal  words  to  say  it,  that  I  personally  have  little 
confidence  in  death-bed  confessions,  when  the  soul  is  leav- 
ing the  suffering  body  and  going  out  into  eternity.  I  will 
not  be  understood  as  saying  that  a  dying  man  may  not  truly 
repent  of  his  sins  and  be  saved.  He  may.  The  Bible  gives 
us  one  case  where  a  dying  man  did  truly  repent — the  thief 
on  the  cross — and  Jesus  made  answer  to  him:  "To-day 
thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise,"  He  did  repent,  but 
the  Bible  gives  only  one  example  of  one  in  the  last  hour 
who  repented  of  sin.  The  Bible  gives  only  one  example — 
one,  that  people  may  not  utterly  despair,  and  only  one,  that 
people  may  not  recklessly  presume. 

Oh,  men  and  women,  with  your  wits  about  you,  with 
your  judgments  clear,  with  your  consciences  sensitive  and 
responsive,  I  pray  you,  in  such  a  time  as  this,  calmly  and 
deliberately  and  thoughtfully,  face  the  question  of  what 
you  will  do  with  God.  I  follow  Achan  just  a  moment  more, 
for  Achan  could  not  die  to  himself.     I  have  been  saying. 


252  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

according  to  the  Scriptures,  that  no  man  can  live  to  hims'Sf, 
nor  can  any  one  die  to  himself,  and  Achan  is  an  awful  illus- 
tration and  demonstration  of  that  momentous  truth.  Read 
the  story  of  Achan  and  you  will  come  across  this  awful 
sentence:  "That  man  Achan  perished  not  alone  in  his  in- 
iquity ;"  and  read  the  story  a  little  further,  and  a  little  more 
closely,  and  you  will  find  that  thirty-six  men  went  down 
with  Achan  to  his  awful  fate.  Oh,  influence!  When  will 
we  be  done  with  influence?  We  will  be  done  with  it  not 
at  all.  We  will  be  done  with  it  nowhere.  You  can  no  more 
be  separated  from  your  influence  than  you  can  be  separated 
from  your  shadow  as  you  walk  in  the  sun.  Achan  did  not 
die  alone,  but  took  thirty-six  men  down  with  him  to  dusty 
death.  Oh,  influence !  How  serious,  how  momentous,  how 
terrible,  is  the  fact  of  influence !  I  wonder  if  a  parent  could 
have  another  hell  quite  so  horrible  as  for  a  child  to  look 
the  parent  in  the  face,  father  or  mother,  and  say  to  such 
parent:  "You  brought  me  here  by  your  own  example!" 
Could  there  be  another  hell  quite  so  terrible  as  that?  I 
wonder  if  there  could  be  another  remorse  quite  so  consum- 
ing for  any  man  or  woman,  as  for  some  soul  in  the  world 
hereafter  to  say  to  such  man  or  woman:  "I  imitated  you, 
and  you  brought  me  the  downward  way !"  I  pray  you,  oh, 
I  pray  you,  save  your  influence  to  the  right  side ! 

I  have  one  more  case  to  present,  telling  how  sin  is  con- 
fessed, but  that  is  the  right  case.  I  could  present  a  num- 
ber, but  one  will  do.  There  is  a  right  way  whereby  to  con- 
fess sin,  and  if  we  confess  our  sins  in  that  right  way,  we 
shall  have  forgiveness.  What  is  the  right  way?  One  case 
will  illustrate.  I  take  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son,  the  most 
familiar  story,  perhaps,  in  all  the  Bible.  You  remember 
how  he  went  away  from  home,  and  wasted  his  substance 
rapidly  in  riotous  living,  and  went  down,  and  down,  and 
down,  and  was  at  last  yonder  in  the  swine  field,  feeding 
the  swine  and  eating  of  the  food  wherewith  he  fed  the  swine. 
But  one  day  he  came  to  himself,  and  he  followed  such  self- 
awakening  with  thought,  with  resolution,  and  with  action, 
and  he  brought  himself  back  the  homeward  way. 

Look  at  his  case  just  a  moment.  First  of  all,  the  Bible 
tells  us  that  he  came  to  himself.     He  came  to  himself  at 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  253 

last,  far  from  home,  down  yonder  in  the  world,  in  the  field 
of  waste  and  failure.  He  came  to  himself.  How  significant 
that  expression:  "When  he  came  to  himself."  Oh,  Spirit 
of  God,  give  the  people  to  come  to  themselves,  religiously 
and  spiritually  1  He  came  to  himself,  and  he  bethought 
himself:  "Back  yonder  at  home,  they  have  plenty  and  to 
spare,  and  here  I  am  starving  among  the  swine.  What 
wretched  waste  is  my  portion !"  said  the  prodigal.  But  he 
did  not  stop  with  that.  He  was  filled  with  sorrow  over 
his  course,  and  said:  "I  will  go  back  and  tell  father,  and 
in  the  sight  of  God  make  my  confession  that  I  have 
sinned  against  father  and  against  heaven,  and  no  more 
am  worthy  to  be  called  my  father's  son.  I  will  take 
a  place  unknown  as  one  of  the  hired  servants,  and  I  will 
go  back  and  make  that  confession  of  my  wrong,  my  waste, 
my  sin."  Right  there  are  the  beginnings  of  repentance. 
He  sees  his  wrong  course.  He  acknowledges  his  wrong 
course.  He  sorrows  over  his  wrong  course.  Right  there 
are  the  beginnings  of  repentance.  But  then  he  rises  up, 
for  that  is  not  enough,  and  he  makes  a  great  resolve,  and 
the  resolve  was  this:  "I  will  arise  and  go  back  to  my 
father,  and  make  my  confession  full  and  complete."  What 
wonders  are  wrought  by  resolution !  Mountains  are  trans- 
formed into  molehills  by  resolution.  What  wonders  are 
wrought  by  resolution!  He  rises  up  and  says:  "I  will! 
I  will!  I  will  decide.  I  will  choose.  I  will  make  up  my 
mind.  I  will  I"  Oh,  how  grand  a  thing  is  resolution ! 
Alexander  was  asked  how  he  conquered  the  world,  and  he 
said  that  he  conquered  it  by  making  up  his  mind,  and  then 
by  not  delaying  to  act  when  his  mind  was  made  up.  And 
Lowell  magnifies  this  truth  when  he  sings: 

Once  to  every  man  and  nation 

Comes   the   moment   to   decide, 
In  the   strife  'twixt  truth   and  falsehood, 

For   the  good  or  evil  side. 

This  prodigal  son  made  up  his  mind.  But  that  was  not 
enough.  The  Bible  tells  us  in  the  next  sentence  that  he 
acted.  In  the  next  sentence,  the  Bible  tells  us  that  he  arose 
and  came  to  his  father.  Now,  that  is  vital.  That  is  the 
gist  of  the  whole  matter.  He  arose  and  came.  It  is  not 
enough  to  wish.      It  is  not  enough  to  desire.      It  is  not 


254  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

enough  to  feel.  It  is  not  enough  to  long.  It  is  not  enough 
to  purpose.  It  is  not  enough  to  resolve.  The  very  gist 
of  it  is  to  rise  up,  as  did  this  prodigal,  and  act.  He  arose 
and  came.  You  know  the  rest.  You  know  how  he  was 
welcomed.  You  know  what  he  received.  The  old  father 
was  waiting  for  him  and  looking  for  him  down  the  long 
road,  which  road  the  boy  had  traveled  when  he  went  away. 
And  one  day,  the  old  father  saw  the  son  coming;  when 
the  son  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  that  father's  eye  of  con- 
stancy and  love  discerned  him,  and  down  that  road  the 
father  went  hastily  to  meet  that  returning  son.  Down  the 
road  the  father  went,  and  up  the  road  there  came  the  son, 
and  when  the  son  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  the  father  saw 
him,  and  ran  toward  him,  and  had  compassion  on  him.  The 
father  took  that  son,  now  all  rags  and  shame,  to  his  fath- 
erly heart,  and  the  son  began  his  confession:  "I  have 
sinned,  father,  against  you  and  in  the  sight  of  heaven.  I 
have  made  shipwreck  of  my  life."  And  the  father  said  to 
his  servants :  "Bring  the  best  robe  for  this  our  son."  And 
to  others :  "Kill  the  fatted  calf  and  provide  for  this  son." 
And  to  another  servant:  "Bring  the  ring  to  put  on  his 
finger"— the  ring,  emblem  of  the  love  that  never  ends.  And 
the  welcome  given  to  the  returning  son  was  unspeakable, 
and  the  sweetness  and  power  of  it  all  is  such  as  to  melt 
all  our  hearts. 

What  is  that  story?  What  does  it  picture?  Just  this: 
It  is  a  picture  of  how  much  God  wishes  to  forgive  any 
person  anywhere,  who  would  come  to  Him  and  have  His 
forgiveness.  As  I  come  to  the  last  moments  of  this  mes- 
sage, I  am  coming  to  ask,  are  there  men  and  women  here 
^ho  say:  "We  are  wrong  with  God,  but  we  wish  to  be 
eight  with  God?"  Do  they  say,  whether  members  of  the 
church  or  not:  "We  are  wrong  with  God,  but  we  wish  to 
be  right  with  God;  we  wish  our  sins  forgiven;  we  wish 
to  be  recovered  from  the  wrong  road  and  the  wrong  life?" 
In  the  church  or  out,  professing  religion  or  not,  do  they 
say:  "We  are  wrong  with  God,  but  in  God's  own  time 
and  way,  we  would  be  right  with  God?"  A  little  while  ago 
I  asked  those  who  had  special  objects  for  whose  forgive- 
ness and  salvation  they  would  have  us  unitedly  pray,  to 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  255 

witness  to  such  fact,  and  many  were  the  uplifted  hands 
which  gave  such  witness.  Now,  I  would  ask,  are  there  souls 
here  who  lift  their  hands  to  say:  "I  am  wrong  with  God 
and  know  it,  but  I  wish  you  to  pray  for  me,  for  I  wish  to 
be  right  with  God,  in  God's  own  time  and  way?"  Before 
we  have  a  moment  of  prayer  my  eye  sweeps  the  audience 
to  see  if  souls  are  here  to-night  who  say:  "Yes,  I  lift  my 
hand,  that  you  and  others  may  speak  to  God  for  me,  for 
I  am  wrong  with  Him,  but  wish  to  be  right."  My  eye  will 
search  the  audience  for  just  a  moment,  to  ascertain,  if  can- 
didly and  earnestly,  hands  are  lifted  to  witness  to  the  fact: 
"I  am  wrong  with  God,  but  I  wish  you  to  pray  for  me  that 
I  may  be  right  with  God  in  God's  own  time  and  way." 

This  is,  indeed,  a  solemn  moment.  There  were  many 
uplifted  hands.  God  be  merciful  to  you,  and  forgive  you ! 
He  surely  will,  if  you  will  only  turn  to  Him  now  in  the 
right  way. 

Now,  listen !  You  wish  to  be  right  with  God.  Oh,  He 
wishes  it  for  you  a  thousand-fold  more  than  you  can  wish 
it.  God  wishes  your  life  to  be  made  right  a  thousand-fold 
more  than  you  wish  it.  God  wishes  it  enough  to  give  His 
Son  to  die  for  you!  Be  not  afraid  just  now  to  surrender 
your  all  to  Him,  oh,  man,  or  woman,  or  child  here  to-night, 
saying  in  heart:  "I  am  wrong  with  God."  Be  not  afraid 
just  there  to  surrender  your  case  to  Christ  He  does  the 
forgiving,  but  you  are  to  give  up  to  Him.  He  does  the  sav- 
ing, but  you  are  to  decide  that  He  may.  He  does  the 
changing  within  you  that  is  necessary,  but  you  are  to  yield 
to  Him  that  He  may.  Be  not  afraid  to  make  that  surrender 
to  Him  now,  to  be  His  from  this  hour,  forever. 

Outside  of  one  of  our  cities,  some  time  ago,  a  train  was 
wrecked,  and  a  crowded  Pullman  of  people  were  killed  in 
that  frightful  wreck,  and  every  man  on  such  Pullman  train 
was  a  citizen  of  the  city,  except  one  man.  He  was  a 
stranger,  and  they  did  not  know  him,  and  they  carried  those 
bodies  back  to  the  city  and  had  a  funeral  service  for  them 
all,  there  in  a  large  hall.  Women  and  men  came,  and  took 
their  last  look  at  that  row  of  caskets,  their  last  look  on 
the  faces  of  their  beloved.  And  wives  and  sisters  and 
daughters  came,  and  bent  over  the  caskets  here  and  there, 


256  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

and  imprinted  the  last  kiss—the  kiss  of  love  upon  the  faces 
of  the  loved  ones.  But  nobody  kissed  that  stranger's  face. 
Nobody  knevir  him.  But  presently  there  came  a  little 
woman,  aged  and  poor.  She  had  looked  at  the  other  faces, 
and  had  watched  their  loved  ones  kiss  them,  and  seeing 
everybody  pass  by  this  stranger's  face,  she  bent  over  that 
face  a  moment,  and  looked  intently,  and  then  she  sobbed 
as  she  said :  "I  will  kiss  him  once  for  his  mother's  sake  I" 
And  she  gave  her  kiss.  Oh,  soul,  far  more  quickly  than 
that  does  the  Lord  wait  to  give  you  His  forgiving  kiss — 
the  kiss  of  reconciliation,  the  kiss  of  pardon,  the  kiss  of 
peace,  the  kiss  of  salvation,  if  you  will  only  yield  yourself 
to  Him!    Be  not  afraid  to  do  it  now! 

Yonder  in  London,  an  aged  woman  heard  that  glorious 
preacher,  William  Dawson,  say  one  night,  that  Christ 
wanted  to  save  the  worst  man  in  London,  and  would  save 
him,  if  such  man  would  just  give  up  to  Christ.  And  the 
little,  aged,  kindly  woman,  who  was  always  trying  to  do 
good,  went  out  to  see  a  man  whom  she  knew,  dying  on  his 
pallet  of  straw,  dying  from  consumption,  and  she  told  him 
what  the  preacher  said  —  that  Christ  wanted  to  save  the 
worst  man  in  London.  The  man  v/ould  not  accept  it,  but 
shook  his  head.  The  man  was  very  sinful  in  life  and  hard  in 
heart.  The  man  said :  "It  could  not  be  so.  I  am  that  worst 
man,  but  Christ  has  no  love  or  interest  in  me."  Then  the 
gentle  woman  went  back  after  the  preacher  and  said :  "You 
must  come  to  help  him.  I  cannot.  I  am  unable."  And 
presently,  William  Dawson  v/as  there  bending  beside  him, 
and  Dawson  said:  "How  is  it,  friend?"  The  poor  fellow, 
there  in  his  place  of  squalor  and  wretchedness,  answered: 
"I  am  not  your  friend,  and  you  are  not  mine.  I  do  not  have 
any  friends,  and  I  am  not  entitled  to  any."  But  Dawson 
went  on  with  gentle  words,  and  said:  "Yes,  I  am  your 
friend,  and  therefore  have  I  come;"  and  he  talked  on  and 
on,  and  said  presently :  "That  is  not  the  best  of  it.  Jesus, 
the  great  Savior,  is  your  friend,  and  loved  you  enough  to 
die  for  you,  and  if  you  are  just  willing,  He  will  take  you 
and  save  you,  even  in  this  awful  plight  to  which  you  have 
come."  And  the  man  listened,  and  the  man's  heart  softened 
and  responded,  and  he  said :    "Oh,  if  it  could  just  be  so !    I 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  257 

would  like  to  be  forgiven.  I  would  like  to  be  saved,  if  He 
would  just  do  it!''  Then  Dawson  quoted  some  of  the  great 
promises:  *'Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith 
the  Lord:  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they 
shall  be  as  wool."  And  again :  "Whosoever  will,  let  him 
take  the  water  of  life  freely."  And  on  and  on  Dawson 
talked,  and  then  he  said :  "My  friend,  I  will  pray  for  you, 
and  while  I  pray,  you  just  tell  the  Savior  what  a  poor  sin- 
ner you  are,  but  that  you  will  just  give  yourself  up  to 
Him,  that  He  may  be  your  Savior."  The  poor  fellow  made 
his  surrender,  and  deep  was  his  joy  and  peace,  while  they 
talked  afterward.  But  presently,  he  said  to  Dawson:  "I 
could  die  in  absolute  peace,  if  just  one  thing  were  granted 
me."  "What  is  it?"  asked  Dawson.  The  man  replied: 
"I  am  the  black  sheep  of  my  father's  family.  I  committed 
an  awful  crime  when  I  was  a  young  fellow,  and  broke  my 
parents'  hearts,  and  disgraced  my  home,  and  when  at  last 
I  went  home,  father  was  stern.  He  met  me  and  said: 
'Joseph,  if  that  is  the  best  that  you  can  do,  there  is  the  gate, 
and  you  need  not  embarrass  us  by  your  presence.' "  And 
said  Joseph:  "I  took  him  at  his  word,  and  I  did  not  go 
about  them  any  more.  I  went  into  the  deepest  sin.  I  have 
come  to  the  depths  of  sin.  But  now  at  last  I  have  turned 
to  Christ,  and  in  His  marvelous  mercy  He  has  forgiven 
me.  If  I  could  just  hear  father  say:  'Joseph,  I  will  forgive 
you,  too,'  I  could  go  away  without  one  cloud."  William 
Dawson  said:  "Where  does  your  father  live,  and  who  is 
he?"  The  dying  man  told  him,  and  William  Dawson  said: 
"I  will  try  to  find  him."  And  across  great  London,  William 
Dawson  went,  street  after  street,  over  long  distances,  and 
at  last  he  reached  the  right  street,  the  right  home,  and  he 
rang  the  bell,  and  the  door  opened,  and  a  white-haired  old 
man,  venerable  and  dignified,  stood  in  the  door,  and  William 
Dawson  asked  his  name.  He  was  the  right  man.  Then 
William  Dawson  began:  "I  have  come  to  tell  you  about 
your  son  Joseph,"  and  the  man's  hand  was  up,  like  that, 
repellant  and  quieting.  "I  once  had  such  a  son,"  said  the 
old  man,  with  his  face  white  from  bitter  memories,  "but 
he  shamed  us  all,  and  I  showed  him  the  door  and  the  gate, 


258  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

If  you  have  anything,  sir,  to  say  about  him,  there  is  the 
door  and  the  gate  for  you!"  William  Dawson  paused. 
What  could  he  say  ?  He  waited  a  moment  more  and  said : 
"Well,  I  will  go,  sir.  I  am  sorry.  Your  son  Joseph  is 
dying,  and  will  soon  be  dead,  and  God  has  forgiven  him, 
and  he  longs  for  you  to  tell  him  that  you  forgive  him, 
too."  And  then  the  proud  head  of  that  father  came  down, 
and  he  cried  out  as  with  a  great  pain:  "Oh,  man,  is  my 
Joseph  dying?  My  little  Joseph?  My  boy,  who  used  to 
sit  on  father's  knee?  My  boy  is  dying  and  wanting  me  to 
forgive  him?  Oh,  man  take  me  to  him  as  quickly  as  you 
can!"  William  Dawson  said  they  hurried  over  that  city 
as  fast  as  cab  and  car  could  take  them,  and  after  awhile 
they  had  reached  the  place,  and  the  old  man  was  beside 
his  dying  Joseph,  and  took  up  that  skeleton  in  his  arms, 
and  embraced  him  as  a  mother  presses  her  child  to  her 
heart,  and  sobbed  out  his  own  broken  heart.  And  the  dying 
Joseph  said:  *Tather,  God  has  forgiven  me.  I  know  it. 
Poor  sinner  that  I  am,  I  have  surrendered  to  Him,  and 
He  has  forgiven  me.  Oh,  father,  I  just  wanted  you  to 
forgive  me,  too!"  The  father  said:  "My  boy,  my  pre- 
cious boy,  if  I  had  only  known  that  you  wanted  me  to  for- 
give you,  never  did  I  see  the  day  that  I  could  have  held 
out  against  your  wish  that  I  should  forgive  you !" 

Tell  me,  will  a  man  forgive,  and  God  be  hard-hearted 
and  unresponsive?  The  one  thing  the  great  pitying  Father 
in  heaven  wants  to  do  this  hour  is  to  forgive  every  man 
and  woman  in  this  press  of  people  who  wants  to  be  right 
with  God.  Just  give  up  to  Him.  He  will  forgive  in  His 
own  way.  Just  pray  this  simple  prayer  and  follow  it: 
"Here,  Lord,  I  give  myself  to  thee ;  it  is  all  that  I  can  do." 
It  is  all  He  asks.  It  is  all  He  wishes.  Do  that,  I  pray 
you.  Do  that  while  you  may.  Do  that  while  you  wish  to 
do  it.  Do  that  here,  in  this  place  of  prayer,  even  this  very 
hour. 

Two  voices  are  here  to-night,  two  voices,  and  I  can 
hear  them  now.  The  first  voice  makes  its  cry :  "Not  yet !" 
You  know  where  that  voice  comes  from.  It  is  Satan's 
voice:  "Not  yet!  Not  yet!"  It  is  the  way  of  death.  "Not 
yet!"    Oh,  listen  not  to  it !    Put  it  away.    There  is  another 


THE  CONFESSION  OF  SIN  259 

voice  that  can  be  heard,  if  you  will  only  listen:  "I  will! 
I  will !  I  will,  God  help  me  I  I  will,  and  I  will  now  I"  We 
are  going  to  sing  that  gospel  song :  "Jesus  is  tenderly  call- 
ing thee  home,  calling  to-day,  calling  to-day."  As  they 
sing,  I  stand  here  to  greet  you.  Is  the  man  here,  or  woman 
or  child,  that  says :  "I  am  that  person  who  has  been  wrong 
with  God?"  In  the  church  or  out,  does  one  say:  "I  have 
neglected  duty.  I  have  broken  vows.  I  have  sinned.  I 
have  wandered.  I  have  drifted.  I  have  gone  into  back- 
sliding. I  am  that  person  in  the  church.  I  want  to  renew 
my  vows.  I  want  Christ  to  make  my  case  right,  and  I  will 
surrender  to  Him,  and  renew  my  vows  with  Him,  publicly 
to-night?"    Come  and  take  my  hand. 

But  does  somebody  say:  "No,  that  is  not  my  case?" 
Does  somebody  say:  "This  is  my  case:  I  have  already 
surrendered  to  Christ,  but  I  never  did  make  it  known.  Here 
to-night  I  will  make  it  known?"  Does  somebody  say: 
"That  is  not  my  case  yet.  This  is  my  case:  I  want  to 
surrender  to  Him.  I  want  His  forgiveness.  I  want  Him 
to  save  me,  and  to-night  He  offers  to  save  me,  if  I  will  just 
come  to  Him,  just  decide  for  Him,  just  surrender  to  Him ; 
I  will  gladly  surrender  to  Him  now."  Do  you  say:  "That 
is  my  case?"  Then  come  and  take  my  hand.  Is  the  case 
here  that  says:  "One  of  those  three  cases  includes  me?" 
Come,  take  my  hand,  as  they  earnestly  sing  this  gospel 
song,  before  our  final  prayer. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER, 

We  go  now,  O  gracious  Father,  with  hearts  profoundly  grateful  to  thee,  for 
thou  art  good  and  ready  to  forgive,  and  thou  art  plenteous  in  mercy  unto  all  who 
call  upon  thee.  We  commend  these  who  seek  thee  and  yield  to  thee,  one  by  one, 
and  every  one,  to  thy  mercy,  praying  thee  that  from  this  night  their  surrender 
to  thee  may  be  a  complete  and  an  eternal  surrender.  We  pray  also  for  men  and 
women  who  have  said  they  want  to  be  right  with  God,  but  are  hesitating  to 
come  to  Him.  They  are  in  life's  middle  time,  numbers  of  them,  strong  and 
mature  in  mind  and  body,  and  there  are  others,  young  men  and  women,  who  are 
seeking  the  Lord.  O,  we  commend  every  one  to  thy  mercy — to  thy  leading. 
Give  that  to-night  they  shall  come  utterly  and  finally  and  decisively  to  the  end  of 
their  waiting,  and  that  each  one  shall  say:  "As  for  me,  to-night  and  forever, 
from  this  hour,  I  give  myself  to  Christ,  that  He  may  be  my  Savior  and  Master 
forever."  Day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  give  thy  people.  Lord,  to  speak  and 
to  do  and  to  pray  according   to   thy   righteous  will. 

And  now  as  we  go,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  be  granted  us  aQ 
and  each,  even  as  He  deemetii  btft  for  ui.    For  Christ's  sake.    Ameo. 


XVIII 
NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  21,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENT. 

The  word  spoken  a  moment  ago  by  the  honored  pastor 
touching  the  wisdom  and  necessity  that  we  Christians,  one 
by  one,  shall  to-day  give  ourselves  to  thought  and  to  effort 
and  to  prayer,  to  help  others  about  us,  who  are  in  wrong 
relations  religiously,  is  a  word  that  ought  to  sink  deeply 
into  our  every  heart.  How  great  a  thing  it  is  to  help  people 
in  this  highest  and  best  way,  even  in  the  upward  way! 
God  takes  our  efforts,  frail  as  they  are,  and  infirm,  and  if 
we  give  them  earnestly  to  Him  and  for  Him,  His  blessing 
upon  them  is  sure.  "He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth, 
bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again  with 
rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him." 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING. 

Text:  "Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of 
His  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light?  Let  him  trust  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his  God."~Isa.  50:  10. 

The  Bible  has  a  message  for  every  life,  no  matter  what 
its  duty  or  test  or  need.  The  vitality  of  the  Bible  is  inde- 
structible. No  condition  nor  exigency  of  human  life  comes, 
but  that  the  Bible  has  a  word  to  meet  it  exactly.  In  every 
congregation  such  as  this,  there  come  always  to  such  serv- 
ices some  who  have  been  called  to  walk  the  vale  of  suffering 
and  sorrow  and  tears.  Numbers  and  numbers  have  paused 
at  the  close  of  these  midday  services,  to  tell  me  of  certain 

260 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  261 

deep  burdens  they  were  bearing,  or  certain  sore  griefs  that 
they  were  suffering,  of  certain  deep  perplexities  that  con- 
fronted them.  I  am  to  bring  you  a  promise  this  morning — 
one  of  the  most  comforting  and  precious  in  the  Bible.  It 
is  in  the  fiftieth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  the  tenth  verse,  and 
you  will  keep  it,  because  you  will  need  this  promise :  "Who 
is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice 
of  His  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light? 
Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his 
God." 

May  I  tell  you  how  I  came  to  find  that  promise?  We 
are  all  along  coming  upon  promises  that  we  did  not  know 
were  in  the  Bible.  What  a  living  book  it  is!  And  how 
increasingly  wonderful  it  becomes,  the  more  we  read  it  and 
study  it !  I  was  in  one  of  the  Texas  cities  some  years  ago, 
preaching  in  some  daily  meetings,  and  my  attention  was 
called  to  the  devotion  to  Christ  of  a  noble  mother  in  that 
congregation.  I  had  rarely  seen  anything  to  rank  with  her 
devotion,  and  in  many  ways  my  attention  was  called  to  it. 
Some  months  went  by,  and  there  came  from  that  city  to 
my  city,  another  mother  from  that  church,  and  presently 
I  asked  her  about  the  first  mother.  She  said:  *T  came 
especially  to  see  you  about  the  first  mother.  Her  case  is 
unspeakably  pitiful.  It  is  this :  She  has  come  to  the  place, 
because  of  trouble,  sorrow  and  suffering,  where  her  spirit 
seems  all  beaten  into  the  dust,  and  she  is  without  light.  If 
you  ask  her  the  question  if  she  trusts  Christ,  she  will  an- 
swer without  hesitation,  in  the  words  of  Job :  'Though  He 
slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  Him.'  But,"  said  the  second 
mother,  "this  first  mother  Is  In  deep  darkness,  and  is  with- 
out light.  I  have  come  to  you  to  ask  If  there  is  some  sug- 
gestion you  can  give  her  out  of  God's  Word."  That  is 
how  I  came  to  find  this  text.  Now  you  are  ready  to  hear 
it  quoted  again.  Mark  It,  for  you  will  need  it:  "Who  is 
among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice 
of  His  servant,  that  walketh  In  darkness,  and  hath  no  light? 
Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his 
God."  "Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,"— the 
fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom — "that  obeyeth 
the  voice  of  His  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and 


262  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

hath  no  light?''  That  was  her  case,  exactly.  What  is  to 
be  done?  The  rest  of  the  verse  tells  us:  "Let  him  trust  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his  God." 

You  will  be  glad  to  know,  to  trace  the  story  just  a 
moment  further,  that  this  promise  was  the  message  God 
used  to  recover  this  bedarkened,  sorrowing  mother,  and 
to  thrill  her  heart  again  with  glorious  peace. 

Let  us  look  at  that  promise  a  little  while  this  morning, 
because  sooner  or  later  all  our  feet  must  go  down  that  vale 
of  sorrow  and  suffering  and  darkness  and  tears,  and  this 
text  describes  a  condition  that  will  sometime  come  to  us 
all.  What  is  the  condition?  Here  is  one  that  fears  the 
Lord,  and  obeys  the  voice  of  His  servant,  and  yet  walk- 
eth  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light.  That  is  the  condition 
that  sometimes  comes  to  us  in  our  earthly  experience,  and 
that  condition  is  sometimes  the  severest  test  that  ever 
comes  to  us.  Darkness  is  always  trying  to  us.  Darkness 
is  trying  to  us  physically,  especially  when  we  are  ill,  and 
agitated,  and  disturbed.  Oh,  how  sick  people  dread  the 
night  and  long  for  the  morning !  Surely,  they  will  be  better 
when  the  light  comes !  And  when  we  come  into  the  realm 
of  darkness  religious,  how  terrible  such  darkness  becomes, 
and  how  glorious  is  light  when  it  streams  down  on  our 
darkness ! 

It  raises  an  old  question,  as  old  as  Job,  and  it  may  be 
older:  Why  do  tears  and  sufferings  and  darkness  come 
to  those  who  are  the  friends  of  God?  We  can  understand 
why  trouble  would  come  to  the  man  who  is  not  God's 
friend  and  refuses  to  be,  for  as  a  man  sows,  so  shall  he 
reap.  If  he  sows  to  unbelief,  the  reaping  must  be  of  a 
character  with  the  sowing.  We  can  understand  why  the 
godless  man,  the  man  who  will  not  be  God's  friend  at  all, 
would  come  to  the  harvest  of  distress.  We  can  understand 
that.  But  that  is  not  the  difficult  question.  The  question 
is:  Why  do  sufferings,  and  darkness,  and  tears  come  to 
those  who  are  the  friends  of  God? 

Now,  sometimes  there  is  an  off-han3,  superficial  an- 
swer given  at  that  point.  Sometimes  when  a  Christian  is 
seen  to  be  in  darkness  and  trouble  and  tears,  the  superficial 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  263 

critic  pounces  upon  him  and  says:  "This  trouble  comes 
as  the  result  of  some  sin/'  The  Word  of  God  is  not  that 
cruel.  The  Word  of  God  does  not  teach  that  doctrine. 
That  doctrine  is  as  false  as  it  is  cruel,  and  as  cruel  as  it  is 
false.  When  you  turn  to  the  Word  of  God,  it  is  perfectly 
clear.     Listen : 

"Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  He  receiveth.  *  *  *  If  ye  be  without  chas- 
tisement, then  are  ye  bastards,  and  not  sons.  Furthermore, 
we  have  had  fathers  of  our  flesh  which  corrected  us,  and  we 
gave  them  reverence :  shall  we  not  much  rather  be  in  sub- 
jection unto  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  live?"  And  then 
the  beautiful  words  of  Jesus  are  in  point  just  here,  where 
He  says :  "As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and  chasten."  So 
you  see,  a  part  of  the  program  and  plan  and  experience  of 
human  life  is  chastisement,  is  trial.  "In  the  world."  said 
Jesus,  "ye  shall  have  tribulation."  It  is  one  of  the  most 
expressive  words  in  the  Bible.  But  He  goes  on  to  say: 
"But  be  of  good  cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world." 

But  now  we  are  raising  the  question:  Why  do  the 
friends  of  God  pass  down  the  vale  of  suffering  and  darkness 
and  tears?  There  are  some  partial  answers,  to  which  our 
attention  may  be  called  briefly  this  morning.  I  say  par- 
tial answers.  They  must  be  partial.  The  full-orbed  and 
complete  answer  we  must  wait  for  until  we  shall  read  it 
yonder  in  the  golden  glow  of  the  land  and  life  above.  But 
there  are  partial  answers,  why  trouble  and  trials  and  tears 
and  darkness  and  suffering  come  again  and  again  to  the 
friends  of  God  here  in  this  world.  Let  us  glance  at  some 
of  these  partial  answers. 

For  one  thing,  trouble,  if  rightly  used,  enables  us  to 
honor  God.  Trouble,  then,  is  a  trust,  and  we  are  so  to  re- 
ceive it.  We  understand  about  other  things  being  trusts. 
There  is  the  man  of  education ;  he  must  answer  for  those 
superior  attainments.  There  is  the  one  who  can  sing  so 
that  hearts  are  enchanted  by  the  music ;  that  singer  must 
answer  for  that  gift.  There  is  the  man  of  money,  and  the 
man  of  money  must  answer  for  it.  The  men  who  make 
money  must  answer  for  that  capacity.  Whatever  our  gifts 
or  capacities,  all  of  them  are  to  be  received  as  trusts  from 


264  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

God,  to  be  used  in  His  name,  to  help  humanity.  Now, 
along  with  other  trusts  comes  trouble.  Trouble  is  to  be 
received,  however  it  comes,  as  a  trust,  and  we  are  to  bear 
it,  we  are  to  meet  it,  we  are  to  go  through  it,  we  are  to 
face  it  like  we  ought,  as  a  trust  from  God,  to  be  used  for 
the  glory  of  His  great  name. 

You  recall  Job's  manifold  and  fiery  trials,  that  patriarch 
in  the  land  of  Uz,  that  conquering  business  man,  and  that 
faithful  friend  of  God — ^Job,  the  man  whom  God  so  ap- 
proved and  applauded.  One  day  Satan  impiously  said  to 
God:  "If  you  will  give  me  a  chance  at  your  man  Job,  I 
will  shake  his  religion  out  of  him,  and  I  will  make  him 
deny  you."  Said  Satan  impiously  to  God:  "Your  man 
Job  is  serving  you  because  of  sheer  selfishness.  He  knows, 
in  the  crude  saying  of  the  world,  Vhich  side  of  his  bread 
is  buttered,'  and  therefore  is  he  proposing  to  serve  you. 
Give  me  a  chance,"  said  Satan,  "and  I  v/ill  make  him 
deny  you."  And  God  said  to  Satan :  "I  will  give  you  carte 
blanche  at  Job.  You  may  do  anything  you  please  to  him 
except  to  kill  him."  And  then  the  awful  testing  began. 
There  was  Job,  all  unacquainted  with  the  colloquy  between 
Satan  and  God,  happy  and  prosperous  in  all  his  surround- 
ings. And  then  there  came  a  dark-robed  messenger,  which 
took  from  him  all  his  property;  and  I  tell  you,  when  you 
strike  a  man  in  his  property  you  have  dealt  him  a  staggering 
blow,  and  some  men  seem  never  to  recover  from  such  blow. 
What  a  pity  that  'tis  so!  Then  there  came  another  mes- 
senger, saying  that  this  trouble  had  come  to  Job — his  serv- 
ants were  all  taken  away,  and  then  there  came  another 
messenger,  telling  him  the  awful  tidings  that  his  children, 
all  and  each,  had  gone  down  into  dusty  death.  But  stricken 
and  beaten  to  the  very  dust  though  that  father  was,  he 
simply  made  answer  through  the  darkness:  "The  Lord 
gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away.  Blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  And  then  there  came  another  black-robed 
messenger,  and  Job  was  stricken  in  his  health,  so  that  from 
the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his  feet,  his  body  was 
one  festering  mass  of  affliction  and  suffering.  And  when 
his  erstwhile  friends  in  the  days  of  his  prosperity  came  to 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  265 

see  him,  so  grievous  were  Job's  sufferings,  that  those  men 
sat  around  him  for  seven  days  and  did  not  deign  to  open 
their  lips,  so  terrible  was  Job's  plight,  and  when  at  last 
they  did  speak,  they  said,  in  effect :  "Job,  you  are  the  worst 
man  out  of  perdition,  or  this  never  would  have  come  to 
you."  Miserable  comforters  were  they  all!  Job  said  to 
them:  "Gentlemen,  your  diagnosis  is  incorrect.  I  do  not 
know  why  this  awful  aggregation  of  troubles  has  come 
down  to  swallow  me  up,  but  let  come  upon  me  what  will, 
though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him."  And  God 
brought  Job  out  of  all  those  troubles,  and  made  the  latter 
days  of  his  life  incomparably  more  glorious  than  the  former, 
and  you  and  I  are  to-day  strengthened  by  the  very  recita- 
tion of  how  God  sustained  Job  in  the  black  Friday  that 
long  ago  came  to  his  life. 

There  was  a  time  in  my  life,  when  for  days  and  days, 
the  only  book  I  wanted  to  read  was  the  book  of  Job,  and 
I  read  it  through  and  through  and  through,  that  book  of 
Job,  that  tells  how  the  human  heart  is  swept  in  its  deepest 
depths  of  suffering  and  darkness,  and  yet  how  God  blesses 
it  and  brings  it  up  and  out  and  sets  the  soul  again  in  the 
high  place  of  safety  and  peace.  Trouble  rightly  borne 
honors  God.  Mind,  when  trouble  comes,  how  you  behave. 
No  matter  what  the  trouble  is,  mind  how  you  behave. 
Many  a  man  has  dishonored  God  when  trouble  came.  No 
matter  what  the  trouble  is,  no  matter  what  brought  it,  no 
matter  who  brought  it,  no  matter  how  it  came  about,  God 
is  dishonored  if  a  Christian  does  not  bear  his  fiery  trial 
like  he  ought  to  bear  it.  You  are  being  tested  for  God,  and 
you  will  dishonor  Him  egregiously,  or  you  will  honor  Him 
gloriously,  according  to  your  behavior  when  trouble  is  on. 
Remember  that. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  Giristiah  girl  who  married  a 
noisy,  disputatious  unbeliever.  Serious  matter  that!  Oh, 
when  will  the  people  as  seriously  view  this  destiny-shaping 
question  of  marriage  as  it  ought  to  be  viewed  ?  When  will 
parents  be  as  careful  in  their  teaching  about  it,  and  young 
people  as  careful  in  their  decisions  about  it,  as  they  ought 
to  be?  This  dear  girl,  a  glorious  Christian,  was  wooed  and 
won  by  a  handsome  young  fellow,  but  he  was  a  scorner  of 


266  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

the  things  of  God,  and  she  went  into  that  atmosphere.  His 
father  and  mother  and  his  grandparents  were  likewise  stout 
unbelievers,  and  all  of  them  lived  in  the  same  big  home. 
And  then  there  began  a  daily  trial  of  that  girl's  faith.  The 
most  insidious  attacks  were  made  on  her  faith,  from  this 
angle  and  that,  but  she  held  calm  and  steadfast  and  true 
to  Jesus  during  all  of  that  first  year  of  their  wedded  life. 
She  had  to  make  her  way  to  the  house  of  God  alone,  but  she 
went,  and  that  went  on  for  about  a  year,  when  one  day, 
as  she  moved  about  the  duties  of  the  kitchen,  her  clothing 
caught  fire,  and  before  they  could  reach  her  and  put  out  the 
fire,  she  had  received  burns  from  which  she  died,  a  few 
hours  later.  But  while  she  lived,  she  was  conscious  to  the 
last,  and  she  bore  her  sufferings  with  all  the  glorious  de- 
votion of  some  mighty  martyr  for  God.  Never  a  word  of 
reproach  or  bitterness  escaped  her  lips — never  one  word. 
She  went  on  quoting  God's  great  and  precious  promises 
to  the  last,  and  when  it  was  evident  to  her  that  she  was 
going,  she  stretched  out  those  charred,  blackened,  once 
beautiful  hands  and  arms,  and  tried  to  put  them  around 
her  husband's  neck,  and  said:  "Poor  Charlie,  the  thing 
that  tries  me,  and  the  only  thing,  about  going  away,  is 
that  I  have  not  lived  long  enough  to  teach  you  and  your 
dear  parents  and  the  dear  old  grandparents,  that  Jesus  is 
real  and  sure,  that  He  is  a  Savior,  and  that  He  does  help 
us,  and  that  He  is  our  refuge  in  every  time  of  trouble  and 
need."  And  then  she  went  away,  and  the  funeral  was  had, 
and  the  body  was  left  to  rest  yonder  in  the  cemetery.  The 
family  returned  to  the  home,  and  the  day  died  down  to 
nightfall,  and  there  by  the  open  fire  sat  the  bereaved  ones, 
when  presently  the  young  husband  stirred  and  said  to  his 
father  and  to  his  grandfather:  ''Mary  had  what  the  rest 
of  us  do  not  have,  and  I  am  going  to  seek  her  Savior." 
And  the  father  said:  "My  boy,  you  are  right.  I  know  it. 
I  feel  it.  She  has  taught  me  that,  and  I  will  seek  Him, 
too."  And  the  old  grandfather  stirred,  and  put  his  staff 
out,  and  came  over  to  the  son  and  grandson,  and  laid  his 
hand  on  the  head  of  each,  and  said:  "My  sons,  you  are 
right.  Mary  did  have  what  the  rest  of  us  do  not  have,  and 
I  am  going  to  seek  her  Savior,  too."    And  in  three  days 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  267 

those  men  had  found  Christ,  and  numbers  of  their  loved 
ones  around  them.  A  little  woman,  called  to  pass  through 
the  vale  of  deepest  darkness  and  suffering,  honored  God 
through  it  all,  and  her  testimony  was  irresistible.  Mind 
how  you  behave  when  trouble  is  on  you !  If  you  carp,  and 
cavil,  and  criticise,  and  murmur,  and  are  evil  in  your 
speech,  oh,  how  you  will  dishonor  God!  Trouble  rightly 
borne  will  surely  honor  God. 

Why  do  darkness  and  sufferings  and  tears  come  to 
God's  people?  There  is  another  partial  answer.  They 
furnish  an  occasion  for  God  to  bestow  His  grace.  If  I  may 
so  put  it,  they  give  God  a  platform  on  which  to  stand  and 
work  His  great  work.  For  example,  there  is  a  lawyer, 
well  trained  in  the  schools,  and  he  has  received  his  diplo- 
ma and  is  ready  for  his  noble  calling.  Now,  if  he  is  to 
evince  his  skill  in  legal  learning,  he  must  have  his  case. 
Yonder  is  a  doctor  who  has  been  graduated  after  years  of 
painstaking  study.  If  that  doctor  is  to  demonstrate  his 
skill  in  materia  medica,  he  must  have  his  case.  Even  so, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  He  is  to  show  men  what  He  can 
do  for  them,  in  the  black  Fridays,  in  the  darkest  vale,  in 
the  most  dreadful  hour,  then  the  hour  of  trouble  and  dark- 
ness must  come,  that  He  may  come  and  extricate  us  there- 
from. 

How  often  is  that  truth  illustrated !  Paul  had  his  thorn 
in  the  flesh.  I  do  not  know  what  it  was,  but  it  was  some- 
thing serious,  you  may  be  sure.  He  called  it  the  messenger 
of  Satan,  sent  to  buffet  him,  and  thrice  Paul  besought  the 
Lord  to  take  away  that  thorn  in  the  flesh,  but  it  was  not 
taken  away,  and  after  that,  Paul  said :  *T  am  glad  I  have 
it.  I  glory  in  it,  because  God  has  given  me  more  of  His 
grace  than  I  ever  would  have  had,  but  for  the  thorn,  and 
so  I  will  take  the  thorn  and  the  added  grace,  and  be  en- 
larged in  my  knowledge  and  experience  of  God." 

Why  does  trouble  come  to  the  child  of  God?  Many  a 
time  it  is  the  strange  way  of  preparing  such  friend  of  God 
to  be  a  helper  of  others,  as  such  person  otherwise  never 
could  have  been.  There  is  no  teacher  like  experience.  I  won- 
der if  we  really  and  deeply  learn  anything  at  all,  except 
as  we  learn  it  in  the  realm  of  experience.    And  so  trouble 


268  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

often  comes  and  we  pass  through  it,  and  we  are  fitted  as 
we  pass  through  it  to  be  helpers  as  we  never  could  have 
been  but  for  such  trouble.  Paul  discusses  that  particular 
doctrine  when  he  says :  "God  comforteth,  in  all  our  tribu- 
lations, that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them  who  are  in 
any  trouble,  by  the  comfort  wherewith  we  ourselves  are 
comforted  of  God." 

I  am  thinking  now  of  two  young  mothers.  The  baby  of 
the  first  one  died  after  a  brief  illness,  maybe  a  day  and 
night,  and  I  was  summoned  to  the  funeral.  She  and  the 
husband  were  not  Christians.  They  were  quite  worldly 
and  quite  godless,  so  I  had  a  difficult  time,  indeed,  in  reach- 
ing them  and  speaking  to  them.  I  went  with  them,  in  their 
brokenness  and  desolation,  to  the  cemetery,  and  came  back 
with  them.  I  said  to  them:  "You  will  come  to  God's 
house,  and  you  will  get  comfort  there."  And  so  they  came, 
and  in  a  few  Sundays  both  of  them  came  into  the  light  and 
were  saved,  and  they  took  their  place  in  the  church  and 
made  faithful  followers  of  Jesus.  Months  went  by,  and 
one  day  I  was  summoned  to  another  funeral.  The  second 
little  mother  was  called  to  put  away  her  flaxen-haired  little 
girl.  She  was  utterly  despairing  and  desolate  in  her  grief. 
She,  too,  was  an  unbeliever.  I  read  the  sweetest  Scriptures 
I  could  find  to  help  her,  but  she  did  not  seem  to  hear  a 
word  I  said.  At  last,  as  the  quartette  began  to  sing,  the 
first  young  mother  I  have  described,  came  quietly  from 
the  place  where  she  was,  and  took  her  place  beside  the 
second  mother,  and  put  her  arms  about  her  and  gently 
said :  "Oh,  Jennie,  dear,  it  is  going  to  be  all  right !"  And 
Jennie  answered  back :  "Why,  Mary,  it  cannot  be  all  right ! 
Everything  about  it  is  bad  and  dark  and  wrong !  It  cannot 
be  all  right!"  "But,"  said  the  first  mother,  "I  passed 
through  this,  and  I  know  what  you  are  passing  through, 
and  God  called  me,  and  through  the  darkness  I  came  to 
Him,  and  He  has  comforted  me,  and  He  will  comfort  you, 
Jennie,  dear.  You  cling  to  Him  and  He  will  bring  you 
out."  And  the  first  mother  did  more  for  the  second  mother 
than  I  could  have  done,  maybe  in  days  and  months,  for 
the  first  little  mother  had  traveled  that  road  of  suflFering 
herself.    Oh,  it  is  often  that  way,  my  friends !    The  world's 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  269 

highest  blessings  often  come  out  of  its  deepest  sorrows  and 
trials  and  tears.  Heaven  itself  can  be  entered  only  by  way 
of  the  cross.  There  is  no  way  to  get  there  except  by  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

Did  you  ever  read  J.  M.  Barriers  charming  little  book, 
"Margaret  Ogilvy?"  Everyone  should  read  it.  There  is 
one  chapter  in  it  on  "How  My  Mother  Got  Her  Soft  Face." 
The  author  is  really  talking  about  his  own  mother.  The 
story  is  that  the  oldest  son  in  the  family  went  away  from 
home,  when  he  reached  his  majority — went  out  to  the  big 
world  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  for  himself.  Letters  came 
and  went,  through  the  months  of  separation,  between  the 
son  and  mother,  and  one  day  a  wire  came  to  her  that  the 
son  was  desperately  ill,  and  she  had  better  come  at  once. 
She  hurriedly  packed  her  valise,  and  started  to  the  railroad 
station,  some  miles  away,  committing  the  tasks  of  the  home 
to  the  younger  children,  to  do  the  best  they  could  with 
them;  but  before  she  reached  the  station,  there  came  a 
second  messenger  boy  with  the  telegram,  telling  her  that 
her  boy  w^as  dead,  and  they  were  sending  his  body  home 
on  the  next  train.  The  body  came  and  the  funeral  was 
had,  and  the  mother  moved  about  the  house,  her  face  be- 
tokening a  sorrow  too  deep  for  human  speech.  But  after 
some  weeks,  they  saw  that  her  face  shone  with  a  light 
that  was  never  on  land  or  sea.  Not  a  murmur  escaped  her, 
no  bitterness,  no  complaints,  no  harsh  words;  hers  was 
a  patience  like  unto  Christ's  patience.  And  when  some 
neighboring  woman  lost  her  boy  or  her  girl,  when  sorrow 
came  to  a  neighboring  home,  Mr.  Barrie  said,  five  miles 
away,  ten  miles  away,  twenty  miles  away,  forty  miles 
away,  the  sufifering  and  sorrowing  one  said:  "Send  for 
that  woman  who  has  the  soft  face.  She  will  know  what 
to  say  to  us,  for  she  has  passed  down  the  vale  of  suffering 
herself."  Oh,  my  friends,  suffering  is  often  the  way  where- 
by we  are  fitted  to  help  a  broken,  bruised,  sinning,  suffer- 
ing world,  as  we  never  otherwise  could  help  it ! 

Why  do  sufferings  and  tears  come  to  us?  There  is  an- 
other word.  Many  a  time,  it  is  a  necessary  discipline  for 
us  in  the  building  of  our  own  character.  Mark  you,  God's 
great  concern  is  for  our  character — for  what  we  are,  not 


270  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

what  we  seem  to  be.  God's  great  concern  is  for  our  inner, 
deeper  selves.  Over  and  again,  trouble  is  God's  disciplina- 
ry teacher  to  give  us  that  experience  that  shall  refine  us 
and  teach  us  and  cleanse  us  and  fit  us,  that  we  may  be 
and  do  in  God's  sight  what  He  would  have  at  our  hands. 
The  highest  conception  of  life  here  is  that  it  is  a  school, 
and  you  and  I  are  the  pupils  at  school,  and  God  has  many 
teachers,  and  one  of  His  teachers  that  comes  robed  in  black 
is  suffering,  is  trial,  is  deepest,  darkest  testing.  David  said : 
"It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted,  that  I  might 
learn  thy  statutes."  Oh,  we  need,  my  fellow-men,  to  be 
disenchanted !  Ease  is  the  bane  of  everything  that  is  good. 
We  need  to  be  disenchanted,  so  that  our  trust  shall  not 
be  in  the  flesh,  nor  in  the  world,  but  stayed  on  the  living 
God. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  little  woman  who  was  happily 
married,  and  two  children  were  given  her,  and  she  lost  both 
of  those  children,  and  they  were  buried  in  the  same  grave, 
and  then  she  went  down  with  complete  nervous  collapse, 
and  for  long  months,  even  for  some  years,  she  was  helpless 
as  a  little  child,  and  had  to  be  fed  by  loved  ones,  who  min- 
istered to  her.  One  day,  as  her  little  auntie,  who  was  a 
joyful  Christian,  was  feeding  this  little  helpless  woman, 
who  was  unusually  despondent  on  that  particular  morning, 
the  little  woman  said :  "Oh,  auntie,  you  say  that  God  loves 
us.  You  say  it,  and  you  keep  saying  it.  Oh,  auntie,  I  used 
to  think  He  did,  but,  auntie,  if  He  loves  us,  why,  why  did 
He  make  me  as  I  am?"  And  the  little  auntie,  after  kissing 
her  gently,  waited  a  moment  and  said :  "He  has  not  made 
you  yet,  my  child.    He  is  making  you  now !" 

When  through  the  deep  waters  I  call  thee  to  go. 
The   rivers   of   sorrow    shall    not   overflow, 
For  I   will  be  with  thee,   thy  troubles  to  bless. 
And  sanctify  to   thee  thy  deepest  distress. 

When  through  fiery  trials  thy  pathway  shall  lie, 
My  grace,  all-sufficient,  shall  be  thy  supply, 
The  flame  shall  not  hurt  thee — I  only  design, 
Thy  dross  to  consume,  and  thy  gold  to  refine. 

There  is  one  word  more.  What  are  we  to  do  when  the 
trouble  is  on  ?  The  next  tells  us.  "Who  is  among  you  that 
feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of  His  servant, 
that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no  light?"     What  is 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  SUFFERING  271 

that  one  to  do?  Here  it  is:  "Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his  God."  There  is  your  anchor- 
age. It  is  not  anywhere  else.  You  will  grope  and  flounder 
and  be  in  the  ditch  anywhere  else,  my  friends.  Some  of 
you  have  been  called  to  pass  through  deep  troubles — fiery 
troubles.  You  will  fatally  err  if  you  go  anywhere  else  but 
to  God.  There  is  the  anchorage.  If  you  have  an  anchor 
for  a  ship,  you  do  not  keep  the  anchor  in  the  ship, 
when  you  need  to  anchor  the  ship.  You  take  the  anchor 
and  put  it  down  out  yonder.  So  our  anchor  is  not  within 
us  at  all.  We  are  anchored  to  Christ.  Listen  to  His  prom- 
ises :  "Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  And  again :  *T 
will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee."  And  again :  "And, 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 
That  anchor  will  hold.  And  if  you  do  not  stay  upon  God 
in  the  dark  and  trying  day,  you  have  serious  cause  to  sus- 
pect whether  you  have  ever  really  trusted  Him  at  all.  Trust 
Him  in  the  dark  day,  because  God's  grace  and  promises 
are  designed  for  dark  days,  just  as  those  great  ships  are 
built  yonder  to  withstand  the  stoutest  storm  that  ever 
drives  the  seas.  Why  should  you  trust  God  on  the  dark 
and  cloudy  day?  Because  such  a  faith  will  glorify  God. 
With  your  submission  to  God's  will,  patient,  meek  and  un- 
complaining, with  your  clinging  trust,  like  Job,  saying,  "I 
will  trust  Him,  though  He  slay  me;"  saying,  "Whatever 
comes,  I  will  follow  Him  the  best  I  can,  whatever  the  vale 
through  which  I  walk" — if  you  will  trust  Him  like  that, 
you  shall  be  a  blessed  witness  for  God. 

Why  are  you  to  trust  Him  on  the  dark  and  cloudy  day? 
Because  it  won't  always  stay  dark  and  cloudy,  thank  God! 
Sure  are  His  promises  that  "the  day  will  break  and  the 
shadows  flee  away."  "Weeping  may  endure  for  a  night, 
but  joy  Cometh  in  the  morning."  "For  our  light  affliction, 
which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  It  won't  stay  dark. 
There  comes  a  sweet,  fair  morning,  tinted  and  glinted  with 
all  the  favor  of  God,  and  you  are  to  look  forward  to  that 
morning,  and  cling  to  Him,  and  go  your  way,  knowing  that 
all  shall  be  well. 

The  hour  passes  in  two  minutes  more.    Tell  me,  was 


272  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

this  message  for  somebody  here  to-day?  Oh,  receive  it 
and  follow  it!  Is  some  heart  here  to-day  perplexed  and 
bedarkened?  Take  the  text,  I  pray  you,  and  go  with  it, 
making  it  your  own.  Take  one  step  at  a  time,  and  then  take 
another  step,  and  then  take  another  step,  and  He  will  bring 
you  into  the  fair  day,  and  you  will  sing  with  the  poet : 

So   I   go  on,   not   knowing; 

I    would    not    know    if    I    might. 
I    would    rather    walk    with    Christ    in    the    dark 

Than    to    walk    alone    in    the    light. 
I    would    rather    walk    with    Him    by    faith 

Than  to   walk  by  myself  with   sight. 

Stay  yourself  upon  Him  to-day,  and  from  this  day  for- 
ward cleave  ever  to  Him  with  unhesitating  trust,  and  then 
may  you  sing  with  the  psalmist  that  the  Lord  will  perfect 
that  which  concerneth  us,  because  His  mercy  endureth  for- 
ever. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

Our  blessed  Heavenly  Father,  bind  the  word  that  each  of  us  needs  to  hear 
and  heed  upon  our  deepest  heart.  May  we  walk  like  we  ought,  in  our  day  and 
generation,  for  the  glory  of  God.  May  our  tempers  and  deeds  be  always  such 
as  shall  cause  the  people  to  take  knowledge  of  us  that  we  are  Christ's,  and  that 
we  delight  above  all  else  to  do  His  holy  will.  May  we  always  have  that  mind 
which  was  in  Christ.  And,  O,  by  example  as  well  as  by  word,  let  us  glorify 
Christ  continually,  each  of  us,  till  life's  day  is  done.  Bring  the  one  that  is  in 
the  darkness  here  to-day  just  to  stay  all  on  God,  and  everything  shall  be  well. 
Teach  us  that  no  matter  what  the  darkness  that  may  come — the  trial,  the  tears, 
the  disappointments  to  beat  us  into  the  dust — no  matter  what  the  fearful  sur- 
prise, the  sore  wrenching  of  the  heart,  the  awful  bitterness  of  spirit — no  matter 
what — God's  grace  is  and  shall  ever  be  sufficient  for  us.  And  let  all  these 
men  and  women  say:  "We  will  trust  Him,  though  He  slay  us,  and  to-day  we 
will  cling  to  Him  with  new  trust  and  new  hope  and  new  passion  and  purpose 
in    obeying    His    will." 

And  now  as  you  go,  may  His  grace  fill  your  every  heart  and  His  wisdom 
guide  your  every  step,  foreverraore.     Amen. 


XIX 
NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  21, 1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Before  I  read  the  Scriptures,  in  a  moment,  I  would  pause 
to  say  that  a  shadow  lies  across  my  heart,  because  my  visit 
here  cannot  be  much  longer  at  this  time,  with  these  two 
cherished  pastors  and  churches,  and  with  the  people  of  this 
community.  If  it  were  possible  for  me  to  do  so,  I  should 
tarry  here  for  several  weeks,  in  daily  services,  but  an  ex- 
acting engagement,  that  I  cannot  in  conscience  put  aside, 
makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  tarry,  save  tor  two  or  three 
days  more.  The  Lord  willing,  I  shall  be  here  to-morrow, 
speaking  at  noon  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  auditorium, 
and  to-morrow  night  here,  and  again  at  noon  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  auditorium,  and  I  shall  be  back  again  for 
two  Sunday  services,  the  Lord  willing.  Quite  wxU  do  I 
understand  that  in  a  city  like  this,  or  in  my  city,  or  in  any 
other  city,  it  is  altogether  desirable  that  special  meetings  be 
continued  daily  for  weeks.  One  of  the  very  significant  things 
about  Mr.  Sunday's  meetings,  as  I  have  seen  them  at  close 
range,  is  that  he  tarries  for  weeks  and  weeks  and  weeks, 
making  his  daily  appeal.  I  shall  be  here  these  two  or  three 
days,  as  I  have  indicated,  the  Lord  willing.  I  cannot  tell 
you  how  deep  is  my  wish,  my  prayerful  wish,  to  help  the 
people  who  come  to  these  services  at  noonday  and  at  night. 
And  I  cannot  tell  you  how  deep  is  my  prayerful  wish,  that 
every  Christian  may  be  a  fellow  helper  to  those  who  are 
not  Christians.     There  are  many  you  can  see  and  bring 

273 


274  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

with  you  to  these  remaining  services.  The  parent  can 
prayerfully  see  what  can  be  done  for  the  child;  and  the 
teacher  can  prayerfully  see  what  can  be  done  for  the  class, 
or  for  the  single  pupil ;  and  the  neighbor  can  see,  and  the 
friend  can  see  how  you  can  help  friend  and  neighbor.  Oh, 
I  beseech  you  to  put  your  best  into  these  two  or  three  days' 
expectant  that  God  will  send  still  larger  blessings  upon  us! 

HOW  TO  BE  SAVED. 

«7u  "^^u**  u'^"?  there  was  a  certain  nobleman,  whose  son  was  sick  at  Capernaum 
When  he  heard  that  Jesus  was  come  out  of  Judea  into  Galilee,  he  wenrunto 
Him,  and  besought  Him  that  He  would  come  down,  and  heal  his  son :  for  he 
was  at  the  point  of  death.  Then  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Except  ye  see  signs  and 
wonders,  ye  will  not  believe  The  nobleman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir.  come  down 
ere  niy  child  die.  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  Go  thy  way;  thy  son  liveth  And  th^ 
man  believed  the  word  that  Jesus,  had  spoken  unto  him,  ^and  he  went  his  way 
^.,^1^  .u  was  now  going  down  his  servants  met  him,  and  told  him,  saying.  Thy 
son  liveth.  rhen  enquired  he  of  them  the  hour  when  he  began  to  amend.  And 
?flf.r'l'n.^"J^  ^'^'  Yesterday  at  the  seventh  hour  the  fever  left  him  So^2 
£^h  A^^^te^  '}  1^^  ^u-  ^^^/^'"f-  ^°"'"  ^"  ^^^^^  J^^^s  said  unto  him.  Thy  son 
hveth.     And  the  father  himself  beheved,  and  his   whole  house."— John  4:46-54. 

This  evening  I  should  like  to  speak  the  simplest  word 
within  my  power  on  the  all-important  theme,  "How  to  Be 
Saved."  I  take  it  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  this 
audience  are  saved  people,  for  which  I  give  devoutest 
thanks  to  God.  Maybe  there  will  be  something  in  the  mes- 
sage for  them  to-night.  They  will  prayerfully  heed  it,  I 
trust.  But  especially  do  I  desire  so  to  speak  that  the  one 
here  who  is  not  saved,  or  who  is  puzzled  about  it,  who  does 
not  quite  understand,  but  wonders  if  he  or  she  is  saved, 
will  receive  help. 

A  little  while  ago,  one  of  the  great  English  preachers 
was  asked  this  question:  "If  you  were  to  put  in  one  sen- 
tence a  message  of  counsel  to  your  brother  preachers  in 
England  and  around  the  world,  what  would  that  sentence 
be?"  I  was  wonderfully  impressed  with  his  reply.  This  was 
his  answer:  "Oh,  brother  preachers,  make  it  plain  to  the 
people  how  they  are  saved."  It  was  a  vital  message,  wasn't 
It.  Suppose,  oh.  Christian  friend,  that  some  unsaved  friend 
should  meet  you  to-night  or  to-morrow,  and  should  ask 
you  to  tell  him  how  to  be  saved,  what  it  is  to  be  saved, 
what  would  you  say?  Could  you  "make  it  plain  to  the 
people  how  to  be  saved?" 

I  am  to  read  you  a  brief  statement  of  how  a  man  came 
to  Jesus,  when  Jesus  was  here  in  the  flesh,  and  stated  his 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  275 

case,  and  received  the  needed  blessing  from  Jesus.  Let  us 
all  look  at  that  case  right  carefully ;  let  that  little  child  listen 
carefully,  as  well  as  the  grown  person.  Faith  is  illustrated 
here  in  this  story  that  I  am  to  read.  I  do  not  know  a  sim- 
pler illustration  in  the  Bible,  of  faith  in  its  several  degrees, 
in  its  several  expressions.  The  children  will  notice  it — 
and  I  have  been  so  grateful  that  the  boys  and  girls  have 
listened  just  like  the  grown  people.  God  bless  them,  all 
and  each,  the  boys  and  girls,  as  well  as  the  young  men 
and  women,  and  the  older  people.  Now  you  are  ready  to 
listen  carefully  to  this  Bible  story : 

And  there  was  a  certain  nobleman,  whose  son  was  sick  at  Capernaum. 
When  he  heard  that  Jesus  was  come  out  of  Judea  into  Galilee,  he  went  unto 
Him,  and  besought  Him  that  He  would  come  down,  and  heal  his  son:  for  he 
was  at  the  point  of  death.  Then  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Except  ye  see  signs  and 
wonders,  ye  will  not  believe.  The  nobleman  saith  unto  Him,  Sir,  come  down 
ere  my  child  die.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Go  thy  way ;  thy  son  liveth.  And  the 
man  believed  the  word  that  Jesus  had  spoken  unto  him,  and  he  went  his  way. 
And  as  he  was  now  going  down,  his  servants  met  him,  and  told  him,  saying,  Thy 
son  liveth.  Then  enquired  he  of  them  the  hour  when  he  began  to  amend.  And 
they  said  unto  him.  Yesterday  at  the  seventh  hour  the  fever  left  him.  So  the 
father  knew  that  it  was  at  the  same  hour  in  which  Jesus  said  unto  him.  Thy  son 
liveth.    And  the  father  himself  believed,  and  his  whole  house. 

Surely,  that  is  one  of  the  simplest  stories  about  faith, 
to  be  found  in  all  this  blessed  Book  of  God,  one  of  the 
simplest  explanations  of  what  it  means  to  come  to  Christ, 
and  get  what  we  need  from  Christ.  Faith  is  here  illus- 
trated. 

Let  us  look  to  see  how  this  man  came  to  Jesus.  You 
are  to  note  the  steps,  and  you  and  I  are  to  come  in  exactly 
the  same  way.  There  are  three  steps  here  in  this  story. 
They  are  so  simple  that  a  child  of  just  a  few  years  can 
understand  them.  God  grant  that  the  child,  and  the  strong 
man,  and  all  of  us  may  see  the  truth  to-night  in  this  simple 
story ! 

This  man  sought  Jesus'  help.  This  man  took  Jesus  at 
His  word.  And  this  man  found  out  that  Jesus  had  done 
what  He  said  He  would  do.  Now,  it  could  not  be  any  sim- 
pler than  that,  could  it?  This  man  sought  the  help  of 
Jesus,  and  when  Jesus  told  him  what  to  do,  he  took  Jesus 
at  His  word,  and  then  later  along  he  found  out  that  what 
Jesus  said  was  so.  Now,  there  is  faith  from  the  first  to  the 
last.  There  it  is,  from  the  tiniest  beginning  to  its  victo- 
rious culmination.     Oh,  that  the  Divine  Spirit  may  make 


276  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

It  so  plain  to-night  that  never  again  after  this  Thursday 
night  shall  we  stumble  and  pause  on  the  great  matter  of 
what  it  means,  and  how  it  is,  to  be  saved ! 

First  of  all,  this  man  sought  Jesus'  help.  He  was  a 
day's  journey  away,  in  another  community,  and  he  heard 
that  Jesus  was  in  this  given  community,  and  the  man 
came  the  day's  journey  to  the  place  where  Jesus  was,  seek- 
ing Jesus'  help.  Isn't  that  intelligent  and  reasonable?  This 
man  needed  Jesus'  help,  and  he  sought  it.  He  came  a  day's 
journey,  and  stood  before  Jesus  to  seek  the  help  that  he 
thought  Jesus  could  give  him.  How  reasonable  that  is! 
How  intelligent  that  is !  Now,  we  act  upon  that  principle 
every  day.  Business  men  seek  success.  There  is  some 
object  you  desire.  You  seek  it.  You  do  not  fold  your 
hands  and  sit  there  stolidly  and  say:  ''Oh,  well,  if  it  is  to 
come  it  will  come,"  and  let  it  go  at  that.  The  farmer  does 
not  pursue  any  such  course.  The  merchant  does  not  pur- 
sue any  such  course.  The  carpenter  does  not  pursue  that 
course.  Nobody  who  has  a  given  object  to  reach  pursues 
any  such  course.  This  man  sought  Jesus  Christ.  How  in- 
telligent! How  reasonable!  If  you  had  sickness  in  your 
family,  you  would  not  sit  with  folded  hands  and  say^:  "Oh, 
well,  if  this  loved  one  is  to  get  well,  he  will,  anyway/*  or 
"she  will/*  You  do  not  deal  with  it  that  way.  You  seek 
help  for  that  loved  one.  You  find  a  physician.  You  search 
for  medicines.  You  seek  help,  that  the  sick  one  may  be 
cured,  may  be  recovered.  How  intelligent  that  is!  So 
here  is  a  man  who  wants  Jesus*  blessing,  and  he  seeks  for 
it.  That  is  the  very  quintessence  of  reason  and  intelligence. 
That  is  what  the  Bible  bids  us  do  about  this  supreme  mat- 
ter of  being  saved.  Seek  after  it.  The  Bible  has  great 
sentences  bearing  upon  that  point.  "Seek  ye  the  Lord, 
while  He  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  Him  while  He  is 
near."  And  take  this  sentence:  "In  the  day  that  thou 
seekest  me  with  thy  whole  heart,  I  will  be  found  of  thee." 
Oh,  if  this  Thursday  night,  the  girl  or  boy,  the  young  man 
or  woman,  the  older  man  or  woman,  in  this  place,  with 
the  whole  heart  seeks  the  Lord,  then  this  night  you  shall 
be  saved.  If  with  the  whole  heart  you  seek  the  Lord  for 
one  second,  you  will  be  saved.    Couldn't  you  do  that?  This 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  277 

man  came  to  Jesus,  seeking  Jesus'  help.  You  see  this  man's 
mind  was  made  up.  His  purpose  was  fixed.  This  man 
said:  "Ad!y  boy  down  yonder  is  ill,  and  if  there  is  help 
to  be  had  for  him,  I  must  seek  such  help.  I  must  get  it. 
All  the  remedies  used  for  my  boy  have  proved  futile  and 
unavailing,  but  I  have  heard  that  one  whose  name  is  Jesus 
can  cure  the  sick,  and  my  boy,  my  blessed  boy,  is  hard  by 
the  gates  of  death,  and  if  Jesus  can  cure  him,  I  must  seek 
Jesus  and  state  the  case  and  beg  for  His  help."  You  see, 
this  man's  mind  was  made  up.  "I  am  going  to  try  Jesus 
out,"  said  this  man.  "I  am  going  to  go  to  the  limit  in  my 
effort  to  get  His  help."  His  mind  was  made  up.  His  pur- 
pose was  fixed. 

And  then,  when  he  came  to  Jesus,  this  man  prayed. 
Prayer  is  just  talking  to  God.  Anybody  can  pray.  The 
sanest  and  most  reasonable  thing  in  the  world  is  prayer. 
Prayer  is  the  cry  of  the  little,  finite,  mortal,  dependent 
human  to  the  great  God,  able,  and  willing,  and  merciful 
and  mighty.  Prayer  is  the  cry  of  a  little  one  whom  God 
made,  to  that  great  God  who  can  help,  and  wants  to  help, 
and  offers  to  help.  Prayer  is  coming  to  Him,  saying:  "I 
would  come  and  have  thy  help.  I  would  come  in  the 
right  way,  and  I  would  receive  thy  help,  for  the  right  pur- 
pose." That  is  prayer.  Anybody  can  pray.  Oh,  do  you 
pray,  my  friend?  How  long  since  you  prayed?  To-night, 
the  man  or  woman  or  child  here,  who  is  wrong  with  God, 
can  cry  from  the  heart,  even  while  I  am  speaking:  "Lord, 
help  me!  Lord,  forgive  me!  Lord,  save  me!  Do  for 
me  what  needs  to  be  done,  I  humbly  pray."  Anybody  can 
come  to  God  like  that,  and  that  is  prayer.  That  poor  pub- 
lican that  the  Bible  tells  about,  put  his  prayer  into  one 
sentence,  but,  oh,  how  pleasing  to  Jesus  was  that  prayer — 
that  one  sentence:  *'God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner." 
And  Jesus  said :  "This  man  went  down  to  his  house  justi- 
fied, rather  than  the  Pharisee  who  stood  and  prayed  with 
himself,"  but  made  a  long  and  meaningless  and  formal 
prayer.  Anybody  here  can  pray  the  publican's  prayer. 
Suppose  you  pray  it  right  now.  Suppose  you  let  your 
heart  pray  it.  Suppose  every  one  of  us  right  now  lets  our 
heart  pray  it,  as  the  preacher  would  let  his  heart  pray  it: 


278  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

"God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner!*'  Did  everybody  join 
in  that?  Won't  you  let  your  hearts  join  in  that  prayer, 
so  suitable,  so  important  for  us  every  one?  Now  let  us 
join  in  it  as  jthe  preacher  voices  it  again,  and  leads  it: 
''God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner!"  Will  you  come  to 
Jesus  like  that? 

And  this  man  wsls  very  earnest,  very  serious,  in  his 
appeal  to  Jesus.  He  said  to  Jesus:  "Sir,  come  down  ere 
my  child  die.  Let  us  not  talk.  Let  us  not  parley.  Let 
us  not  cavil.  Let  us  not  delay.  Hasten  with  me.  Come 
down  ere  my  child  die."  How  earnest  he  was !  And  that 
is  the  way  for  us  to  pray.  We  are  to  be  earnest,  with  our 
minds  and  hearts  made  up  about  the  thing  we  need  and 
would  have  from  the  gracious  and  merciful  Savior.  We 
should  be  earnest.  But  now,  mark  it,  there  was  a  weak- 
ness in  this  man's  prayer,  in  this  man's  appeal,  and  I  am 
going  to  call  your  careful  attention  to  it  right  now.  What 
was  the  weakness?  This  man  dictated  to  Jesus  how  He 
should  help  him.  He  said  to  Jesus:  "Sir,  come  down 
ere  my  child  die."  He  said  in  effect :  "Come  and  go  home 
with  me.  Come  where  you  may  see  the  boy.  Come  where 
you  can  touch  his  beating  pulse  and  look  into  his  suffering 
face.  Come  down.  Come,  go  home  with  me."  And  Jesus 
said :  "Why,  man,  won't  it  take  signs  and  wonders  before 
you  will  believe?"  Said  Jesus  to  the  father:  "Why,  you  are 
dictating  to  me  how  to  help  you.  You  are  even  putting 
limits  and  boundaries  about  the  method  of  my  help." 
Jesus  said  to  him  in  effect :  "Oh,  nobleman,  if  I  will  heal 
your  boy,  won't  you  consent  that  I  may  heal  him  my 
way?"  Now,  isn't  that  reasonable?  Let  us  call  that  no- 
bleman. "Nobleman,  if  Jesus  will  show  mercy  to  your  boy, 
won't  you  let  Jesus  show  mercy  in  His  own  way,  without 
any  advice  or  counsel  or  direction  at  all  from  you?" 

The  nobleman  saw  the  point.  The  nobleman  saw  that 
if  Jesus  was  going  to  take  that  case,  then  the  father  must 
relinquish  the  case  to  Him,  must  turn  the  case  over  to  Him, 
must  commit  the  case  to  Him,  and  there  it  is.  Call  to  the 
man:  "Oh,  nobleman,  if  Jesus  will  heal  your  suflFering 
and  terribly  sick  son,  won't  you  let  Jesus  do  it  His  own 
way?"    And  so  I  pass  the  word  to  every  one  here,  whQ 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  279 

wants  the  help  of  Jesus,  to  every  one  here  who  wants  to 
be  forgiven  and  saved:  If  Jesus  will  save  you,  won't  you 
let  Him  save  you  His  way?  He  will  never  save  you  any 
other  way.  You  must  come  to  the  point  viihere  you  will 
say:  "Yes,  Jesus,  I  yield.  I  give  up.  I  trust.  I  surren- 
der. Save  me  your  way."  He  will  never  save  you  any 
other  way,  and  you  must  come  to  that  point. 

May  I  take  a  little  leaf  out  of  my  own  poor  life?  When 
I  was  a  young  fellow,  seeking  Jesus,  the  way  was  all  dark 
to  me.  I  could  not  understand  how  to  be  saved.  Oh,  if 
somebody  had  sat  down  beside  me  when  I  was  a  lad,  and 
had  told  me  the  simple  way  to  be  saved,  I  think  I  would 
have  walked  in  it!  I  remember  one  day  I  was  alone,  and 
for  hours  and  hours  this  was  my  prayer:  "Lord,  deepen 
my  feeling.  Lord,  make  my  eyes  to  be  fountains  of  tears. 
Lord,  fill  me  with  remorse  and  misery  and  condemnation." 
I  prayed  like  that,  supposing  that  if  I  reached  a  certain  point 
of  awful,  deplorable  remorse  and  regret  and  wretchedness 
of  spirit,  surely  Jesus  would  then  take  pity  on  me.  Why, 
that  was  not  the  way  for  me  to  come  to  Jesus.  The  way 
for  me  to  come  to  Jesus  was  to  come  to  Him  and  say: 
"Lord  Jesus,  here  I  am,  a  sinner,  and  I  cannot  save  my- 
self. Thou  hast  taught  it,  and  surely  thou  knowest.  I 
have  found  out  in  myself  and  of  myself  and  by  myself  how 
weak  and  frail  I  am,  how  insufficient  I  am  to  save  myself. 
Lord  Jesus,  thou  doest  the  saving,  thou  sayest  it,  and  thou 
sayest:  *Come  to  me  without  delay,  and  I  will  come  to 
you,  and  I  will  save  you.'  Lord,  I  turn  the  best  I  can  from 
every  evil  way,  and  I  give  up  to  Jesus,  that  He  may  save 
me  His  way,  and  I  give  up  right  now.  Dark  or  bright, 
no  matter  what  comes,  I  will  give  up  to  Jesus."  Oh,  if  I 
had  come  like  that,  when  an  interested  boy,  I  would  have 
found  Christ,  as  I  did  find  Him  when  my  feet  were  turning 
into  young  manhood's  morning.  I  did  find  Him,  when 
quietly  one  night,  sitting  in  an  audience  like  this,  an  earn- 
est preacher  pleaded  that  Christ  might  be  given  His  own 
way  to  save  the  soul,  that  the  soul,  needy  and  helpless 
and  unable  to  save  itself,  would  make  honest  surrender 
to  Christ — utter  surrender.  I  sat  back  there  as  you  sit 
back  there  before  me  now,  and  I  said:    "Lord  Jesus,  it  is 


280  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

all  as  dark  as  it  can  be.  I  do  not  see  through  it.  I  cannot 
understand  it.  I  am  making  no  progress.  I  am  getting 
nowhere.  I  am  drifting  with  the  current.  Dark  or  bright, 
live  or  die,  come  what  may,  I  surrender  right  now  to 
Christ.*'  Right  there  is  the  place  to  be  saved,  and  no- 
where else.  Right  there!  Won't  you  let  Him  save  you 
His  way?  Won't  you,  oh,  husband  and  father;  won't  you, 
oh,  mother  and  wife;  won't  you,  young  man  or  woman; 
won't  you,  my  boy  or  girl,  let  Jesus  save  you  His  way,  by 
your  own  consent?  Won't  you  tell  Him:  "Yes,  Lord 
Jesus,  I  say  'Yes'  to  your  call?" 

Now,  you  see  the  second  point.  When  the  man  saw 
the  issue,  when  it  was  joined,  when  the  man  saw  that  he 
must  turn  the  case  over  to  Jesus,  Jesus  said  to  him  in 
effect :  "If  you  will  turn  that  case  over  to  me,  that  I  may 
save  that  boy  my  way,  then  that  boy  shall  surely  be 
healed."  Now  comes  the  beautiful  point  of  the  story.  The 
Scriptures  here  tell  us,  as  I  read  them  to  you:  "And  the 
man  believed  the  word  that  Jesus  had  spoken  unto  him, 
and  went  his  way."  Right  there  a  soul  is  saved,  and  no- 
where else — right  there.  The  man  took  Jesus  at  His  word. 
The  man  closed  the  matter  with  Jesus.  Jesus  said:  "If 
you  will  commit  that  boy  to  me,  I  will  save  him.  Will  you 
doit?"  He  said:  "I  will  do  it."  And  Jesus  said:  "Go 
your  way;  your  boy  lives."  And  the  man  took  Jesus  at 
His  word  and  went  his  way.    Right  there  a  soul  is  saved. 

Won't  you  take  Jesus  at  His  word ?  What  word?  Any 
word  that  He  speaks  to  you,  calling  you  to  Him.  His 
promises  are  countless  almost  as  the  stars  in  the  skies 
above  us — His  glorious  promises.  If  you  will  take  any  one 
and  follow  that  to  Jesus,  and  say:  "I  will  take  you  at 
your  word.  It  is  'Yes'  to  your  word.  I  will  give  up  to 
you" — whoever  does  that,  Christ  will  take  that  person, 
then  and  there  and  forever,  and  be  your  Savior.  What 
word?  Oh,  there  are  many!  Take  this  one — I  dare  say 
that  uncounted  tens  of  thousands  of  people  have  come  to 
Jesus  on  this  plain  promise  which  now  I  quote:  "Him 
that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  There  is 
enough  gospel  in  that  one  promise  to  bring  every  rational 
human  being  to  Jesus  for  salvation.    "Him  that  cometh  to 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  281 

me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out/'  That  is  for  you,  and  you, 
and  me,  and  all  the  rest.  "Him  that  cometh  to  mel"  "If 
anybody  will  come  to  me,  and  just  give  up  to  me,  I  won't 
cast  that  person  out,"  the  great  Savior  declares.  Or  take 
this  promise:  "Whosoever  will" — how  simple  that  is — 
"whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 
"Whosoever  is  willing,"  says  Jesus,  "for  me  to  be  your 
Savior,  and  yon  will  just  give  up,  if  you  are  just  willing, 
I  will  take  you  that  very  moment,  and  you  will  be  mine, 
and  I  will  be  yours."  Or  take  this  sentence :  "The  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Sen,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  One 
is  in  this  audience  who  was  brought  by  that  verse  to 
Jesus.  A  man  with  the  gray  about  his  temples  has  told 
me  about  it.  That  verse  brought  him.  "The  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  His  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  The 
man  heard  it  and  said:  "Well,  if  it  is  Christ's  blood  that 
cleanses  me,  then  I  will  give  up  to  Christ,  and  let  Him 
save  me  in  His  own  way,"  and  Christ  saved  him  then  and 
there. 

Or  take  this  beautiful  sentence:  "Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest."  I  wonder  if  millions  have  not  come  in  response  to 
that  invitation.  Or  take  this  promise :  "Commit  thy  way 
unto  the  Lord" — oh,  but  it  is  a  sinful  way,  you  say,  a 
marred  way,  a  bad  way,  a  wrong  and  improper  way — 
never  mind,  whatever  your  way  is,  "Commit  thy  way  unto 
the  Lord,  trust  also  in  Him,  and  He" — not  you,  not  the 
church,  not  the  preacher  —  "He  shall  bring  it  to  pass." 
What  does  He  say?  He  says:  "Come  and  commit  your 
case,  whatever  your  sin,  or  doubt,  or  fear,  or  temptation, 
or  need,  or  weakness,  or  difficulty,  or  evil  memory,  or  ac- 
cusing conscience — no  matter  what,  commit  your  case  to 
the  Lord,  and  He  will  take  you  and  forgive  you  and  save 
you.    He  says  just  that.    Could  language  be  plainer? 

Oh,  soul,  don't  you  see  it?  Isn't  it  plain?  Do  you 
answer  me  back:  "Oh,  sir,  but  this  is  my  difficulty?" 
State  it.  What  is  your  difficulty?  Why  are  you  not  to- 
night Christ's  friend  and  follower?  Name  your  difficulty. 
Whatever  your  difficulty  is,  I  do  not  care  what  it  is — it 
may   be    exceedingly   trying  —  whatever   your   sin,    your 


2^  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

doubt,  your  fear,  your  anxiety,  your  temptation,  your  weak- 
ness, your  past,  your  present,  your  future,  if  you  will  hon- 
estly surrender  your  case  to  Christ,  He  will  manage  you, 
the  difficulty,  the  sin,  and  everything  about  it.  He  does 
the  saving,  but  you  are  to  surrender.  He  never  saved  one 
that  did  not  give  up  to  Him.  He  never  saved  one  rational 
soul  that  did  not  say:  "Yes,  Lord,  I  will  surrender.  I 
will  decide.'*  He  never  saved  one  that  held  back  and  re- 
fused to  surrender  to  Him.  And  He  never  failed  to  save 
any  soul  in  this  world,  no  matter  how  bedarkened,  how 
troubled,  how  sinful,  how  difficult,  if  such  soul  just  said, 
and  meant  it:  "Here,  Lord,  I  will  surrender  to  you  that 
you  may  save  me.'*  Oh,  isn't  it  simple — the  way  to  be 
saved?  The  little  girl  there  knows  when  I  quote  that  sen- 
tence: "Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord,"  what  it  means. 
The  little  girl  would  know  what  I  meant  if  I  said :  "Child, 
take  this  letter  and  commit  it  to  the  postoffice."  She  would 
understand  that.  That  child  would  understand  it.  That 
boy  would  understand.  "Commit  this  letter  to  the  post- 
office,"  and  the  child  would  take  it  there  and  commit  it 
to  the  postoffice.  The  man  there  would  understand  about 
taking  his  baggage  yonder  to  the  train,  and  having  the 
baggage  checked,  and  he  would  get  his  little  check  there 
for  it,  and  behind  that  baggage  that  he  checked  would  be 
the  weight,  the  authority,  the  responsibility  of  that  whole 
railway  company.  Jesus  comes  saying:  "Here  is  the 
check.  I  will  give  it  to  you,  if  you  will  commit  your  way 
to  me.  I  will  take  your  case  and  save  you,  and  you  may 
keep  this  check  and  look  at  it,  and  quote  it  every  hour 
in  the  day.  I  will  never  forget  you,  and  never  fail  you." 
Isn't  it  simple,  and  isn't  it  glorious? 

There  is  one  more  word  about  the  story.  The  last  word 
is  that  the  man  went  on  back  home,  after  Jesus  said :  "Go 
your  way,  now.  You  trust  your  boy  to  me,  and  I  will  take 
care  of  you,  and  you  will  find  out  that  I  have  not  misled 
you."  The  man  went  on  back,  and  before  he  got  back 
home,  even  as  he  was  going  along  the  homeward  road,  his 
servants  came  gladly  to  meet  him,  and  when  they  met  him 
they  said :  "Master,  the  boy  is  well."  And  then  the  father 
asked  them  when  the  change  came,  and  they  made  an- 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  283 

swer:  "Yesterday  at  the  seventh  hour  the  fever  left  him.'* 
So  the  father  remembered  that  it  was  at  that  identical  hour 
in  the  which  Jesus  said  to  him:  "Now  that  you  have 
trusted  your  boy  to  me,  you  may  go  back  without  any 
anxiety,  and  you  will  find  him  all  safe  and  well."  The 
father  remembered  that  it  was  at  that  very  hour,  when  he 
turned  his  boy  over  to  Christ  and  said :  *T  will  trust  you 
with  my  boy."  And  then  the  father  saw  that  it  was  true. 
The  father  had  the  demonstration.  There  was  the  climax 
of  proof.  There  was  the  boy,  living  and  well.  And  the 
father,  and  the  mother,  and  the  bo}^,  and  the  whole  house 
rejoiced,  for  they  all  found  that  Jesus  did  just  what  He 
promised  to  do. 

Let  us  give  earnest  heed  as  we  apply  this  truth  to  our 
own  hearts.  Isn't  our  trouble  often  that  we  want  this  last 
part  first?  We  want  to  see  it  all,  and  know  it  all,  before 
we  will  trust  Christ  and  let  Him  later  reveal  to  us  His 
mercy  and  blessing.  Don't  we  want  this  last  part  first? 
We  want  all  this  light,  this  knowledge,  this  assurance, 
before  we  take  this  first  plain  step,  and  surrender,  turn 
over,  commit,  say  "Yes"  to  Christ,  when  He  says:  "If 
you  will  trust  me,  I  will  forgive  and  save."  We  want  to 
see  it  all,  before  we  take  this  first  great  step  of  surrender 
to  Christ. 

Oh,  this  first  step  must  be  taken,  before  we  will  ever 
find  out  that  Jesus  surely  keeps  His  word*  If  you  had  a 
candle  there  in  the  house  to  be  lighted,  you  would  not 
stand  before  the  candle,  with  your  match  in  your  hand, 
and  say  to  the  candle:  "Burn  now,  so  that  we  can  see," 
before  you  struck  the  match.  You  would  strike  that  match 
and  apply  it  to  the  candle,  and  then  the  light  would  be 
kindled  for  all  who  are  in  the  house.  That  is  the  way  the 
light  comes.  If  you  had  a  sickness,  and  the  doctor  should 
be  summoned  and  leave  his  medicine^,  with  careful  direc- 
tions, you  would  not  content  yourself  with  saying:  "Oh, 
well,  the  medicine  is  in  the  house,  and  the  doctor  has  told 
me  what  to  do  with  it,  but  I  will  pass  it  ty ;  "I  will  not  take 
it."  You  would  not  do  like  that  at  all,  for  when  he  came 
back  he  would  find  you  with  the  raging  fever,  and  when 


284  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

he  questioned  you,  he  would  find  out  that  you  had  not 
carried  out  his  orders  at  all. 

So  when  Jesus  comes  to  you  and  says :  "I  will  forgive 
you,  I  will  save  you,  I  will  prepare  you  for  heaven,  I  will 
kt  you  for  earth,  I  will  fit  you  for  death,  I  will  fit  you  for 
life,  I  will  save  you,  I  will  write  your  name  in  God's  own 
book  of  life  above,  if  you  will  just  surrender  to  me,"  you 
are  not  to  say :  "Well,  I  will  wait  and  see  the  how  about 
it."  You  are  to  say :  "I  will  do  that.  I  will  take  Him  at 
His  word.  I  will  give  up  to  Him.  I  will  make  that  sur- 
render."   How  simple  it  is,  and  how  glorious  it  is! 

The  very  essence  of  faith  is  taking  Christ  at  His  word. 
The  very  essence  of  faith  is  giving  up  to  Christ.  Do  you 
say:  "Lord,  I  cannot  see  through  it?"  Certainly,  you 
cannot.  I  cannot.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  world  wio 
can  see  how  it  is  that  one  is  born  again.  You  cannot  ex- 
plain how  one  is  born  the  first  time,  born  of  the  flesh, 
and  certainly,  you  cannot  explain  how  one  is  born  of  the 
Spirit,  that  higher,  more  wonderful  birth.  But  Jesus  said: 
"That  is  my  part.  Mine  it  is  to  look  after  the  birth.  The 
mystery,  the  wonderful  work — that  is  mine.  Yours  it  is 
to  turn  your  case  over  to  me,  that  I  may  take  you  and 
save  you  my  way.    Will  you  turn  that  case  over  to  me  ?" 

Oh,  soul,  aren't  you  ready  to  say :  "That  is  exactly  what 
I  will  do?"  It  is  as  simple  as  daylight.  Here  it  is.  Christ 
does  the  saving,  and  does  it  all.  But  the  sini^er  has  to 
give  up  to  Christ,  and  then  when  the  sinner  does  that, 
Christ  takes  such  sinner,  forgives  and  guides  and  keeps 
such  sinner  for  all  the  afterwhile.  How  simple  and  how 
glorious!  Come,  now.  Haven't  you  waited  long  enough 
to  take  this  eternally  important  step?  He  has  spared  you, 
this  great  Savior.  He  has  been  so  gracious  and  so  merci- 
ful. He  has  shown  you  such  patience  and  forbearance.  He 
has  waited  late  and  long  for  you,  that  He  might  do  for 
you  what  needs  to  be  done,  which  if  left  undone  for  you, 
He  himself  says:  "Better  for  that  person  that  he  or  she 
had  never  been  born."  Aren't  you  ready  to-night  to  say: 
"I  am  read}'-  that  Christ  shall  save  me  His  own  way,  with- 
out any  dictation  on  my  part?"  Oh,  haven't  you  waited 
iong  enough?    God  be  thanked  that  He  has  been  paticiit 


HOW.  TO  BE  SAVED  285 

with  you,  that  He  has  waited,  that  He  has  borne  and  for- 
borne toward  you! 

But  now  haven't  you  waited  long  enough?  Somewhere 
there  is  an  end  to  that  waiting.  I  heard  that  faithful,  Bib- 
lical preacher,  George  C.  Needham,  who  held  one  of  his 
last  meetings  with  our  church  in  Dallas,  a  wonderful  gos- 
pel preacher,  tell  of  three  brothers  yonder  in  Scotland,  who 
got  a  boat  and  went  out  on  one  of  the  lakes  of  Scotland  one 
day,  rowing  in  the  little  boat.  But  those  lakes  are  often 
swept  by  storms  and  winds  that  come  down  upon  them 
all  unexpectedly,  and  when  those  three  brothers  were  far 
out  yonder  in  the  lake,  a  storm  suddenly  swept  down  on 
the  lake  and  turned  over  the  boat,  and  the  middle  brother 
was  caught  in  the  rigging  and  drowned  outright,  but  the 
oldest  and  youngest  brothers  somehow  got  out  from  under 
the  boat,  and  they  swam  towards  a  rock,  hundreds  of  yards 
out  yonder,  jutting  up  in  the  lake.  That  was  their  only 
chance  to  be  saved,  and  with  extreme  difficulty  they  made 
their  way  toward  that  rock.  At  last  the  older  brother 
reached  it,  all  worn  out,  and  all  exhausted  in  strength.  He 
just  did  reach  it,  and  he  looked  back,  and  there,  some  yards 
away,  came  the  younger  brother,  barely  able  to  move  his 
hands  in  those  battling,  climbing  waves,  his  strength  all 
gone.  This  older  boy  called  to  him,  with  what  little 
strength  he  had  left,  trying  to  cheer  him  to  hold  out  a  little 
farther,  that  he  might  reach  the  rock.  But  he  came  a  little 
farther  and  then  went  down.  He  could  not  make  the  rock. 
His  strength  was  gone.  The  people  on  the  shore  yonder 
saw  the  distressing  scene,  and  they  got  another  boat  and 
came  to  this  oldest  boy,  and  they  found  him  wild  al- 
most in  his  grief.  And  over  and  over  again,  he  told  the 
story  of  how  it  all  happened,  of  how  quickly  the  boat 
turned  over,  and  how  the  middle  brother  drowned  out- 
right, and  how  he  and  the  little  brother  got  out  and  swam 
the  best  they  could,  and  how  he  reached  the  rock,  but  was 
all  given  out,  and  how  the  little  brother  could  not  quite 
reach  it.  And  the  great  preacher  said  the  boy  would  wind 
up  his  story  with  the  plaintive  cry,  over  and  over  and  over 
again:  "Oh,  lads,  little  brother  was  nearly  saved!  Little 
brother   was    nearly    saved!      Little    brother   was    nearly 


286  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

saved!"  Sobbing  his  heart  out,  he  would  finish  his  story 
every  time  with  the  plaintive  cry:  "Oh,  I  tell  you,  little 
brother  was  nearly  saved,  nearly  saved!" 

God  pity  us,  that  is  a  picture  of  many  who  come  to  our 
gospel  services.  They  hear,  they  think,  they  desire,  they 
know,  they  feel,  they  are  nearly  saved.  But  nearly  saved 
is  not  enough !  Almost  is  but  to  fail !  Satan  does  not  care 
if  people  are  serious,  if  they  are  interested,  if  they  desire, 
if  they  tremble,  if  their  faces  are  white,  and  their  hearts 
beat  faster  from  emotion  concerning  Christ's  call  to  them; 
Satan  does  not  care,  if  they  will  just  halt,  if  they  will  just 
hesitate,  if  they  will  just  wait. 

Come  now,  haven't  you,  oh,  man  or  woman;  oh,  hus- 
band or  wife ;  oh,  father  or  mother,  young  man  or  maiden, 
boy  or  girl,  haven't  you  waited  long  enough  to  make  an 
end  of  this  waiting,  and  to  say :  "As  for  me,  dark  or  bright, 
whatever  comes,  God  help  me,  I  cast  the  die.  I  cross  the 
Rubicon.  I  cut  the  cables.  I  burn  the  bridges.  I  can  do 
nothing  else.  I  surrender  to  Christ,  that  He  may  save 
me  His  own  way."  I  tell  you,  if  you  will,  He  will  be 
your  Savior  from  that  very  minute.  Aren't  you  willing, 
and  aren't  you  ready,  for  that  great  step  to  be  taken  on 
your  part? 

I  am  going  to  ask  every  soul  that  has  taken  it  to  tell 
us  about  it.  Every  soul  that  says :  "Sir,  I  have  heard  this 
simple  message,  and  I  am  able  to  lay  my  hand  on  my  heart 
and  say  to  you:  T  have  already  surrendered  myself  to 
Christ,  and  have  taken  Christ  to  be  my  personal  Savior. 
I  am  able  with  uplifted  hand  to  declare  that  I  have  made 
that  surrender,  that  I  have  made  the  choice  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  my  Savior.' "  Every  soul  in  this  place  that  can  say :  "I 
have  done  that,"  lift  high  the  hand.  It  is  a  thrilling  sight, 
dear  brothers.  I  greet  you,  and  bid  you  Godspeed.  We 
are  traveling  to  the  better  world,  and  a  little  later  we  will 
strike  hands  in  that  better  world,  because  of  the  saving 
grace  of  Christ. 

But  now  I  ask:  Aren't  there  those  here  who  say:  "I 
could  not  lift  my  hand.  I  am  in  doubt  and  darkness  about 
it.    But  I  do  want  to  be  saved,  and  I  want  you  to  pause. 


HOW  TO  BE  SAVED  287 

and  all  these  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  Christians  to  pause, 
and  pray  one  prayer  for  me,  that  I  may  not  miss  the  way, 
that  I  may  not  be  finally  lost.  I  want  you  to  pray  one 
prayer  for  me,  that  I  may  be  saved.  I  want  that."  Do 
you  say:  "I  do  want  that,  sir?"  Every  soul  that  says :  "I 
am  wrong  with  Christ,  and  a  minute  ago  I  could  not  lift 
my  hand" — ^you  did  right  not  to  if  you  could  not.  Sin- 
cerity, how  vital  that  always  is ! — but  do  you  say :  "I  lift 
my  hand  on  your  last  call.  I  want  to  be  saved  by  Christ. 
I  want  to  be  saved  in  Christ's  own  way  and  time.  Pray  a 
prayer  for  me  that  I  may  be  saved,  for  I  am  wrong  with 
God.  I  would  lift  my  hand  on  that,"  then  lift  it,  while  I 
am  looking  now.  I  see  your  uplifted  hands — they  are 
many.  Oh,  my  heart  goes  out  to  you  all.  In  a  moment 
we  are  going  to  pray.  What  are  we  going  to  pray  for? 
We  are  going  to  pray  that  right  now,  these  men  and  women 
and  boys  and  girls  saying:  "We  want  to  be  saved  Christ's 
way,"  may  now  settle  it.  We  are  going  to  pray  that  right 
now  you  may  settle  it,  that  right  now  the  matter  may  be 
concluded — right  now.  Now,  with  every  head  bowed  for 
a  moment,  let  us  pray. 

THE  PRAYER 

Blessed  Savior,  we  bring  these  interested  ones,  all  and  each,  the  best  we 
can,  right  now  in  our  prayers,  and  commit  them  to  thy  mercy  and  grace.  O 
blessed  Savior,  may  the  truth  be  clear  to  them  right  now,  that  they  can  never 
save  themselves;  that  waiting,  no  matter  how  long,  will  not  suffice;  that  no 
matter  where  they  go  nor  what  they  do,  that  will  not  suffice.  Give  them  to 
realize  that  Christ  must  save,  and  Christ  alone,  and  that  their  waiting  cannot 
improve,  but  will  make  worse  their  condition.  Let  them  now  say:  "Lord,  thou 
hast  waited  for  me,  but  I  will  not  ask  thee  to  wait  longer — not  another  week,  nor 
another  day,  nor  another  hour,  nor  another  service.  I  want  to  be  saved,  and  I 
will  give  up  to  Christ  right  now,  that  He  may  save  me  His  way.  I  will  take 
Him  through  the  darkness.  ^  I  will  come  to  Him,  though  unable  to  understand 
how  He  saves.  I  will  be  a  little  child,  just  as  He  tells  me  to  be.  Here,  Lord,  I 
give  myself  to  thee — sins,  doubts,  and  all,  difficulties  and  temptations,  weaknesses 
and  fears,  yesterday,  to-day  and  to-morrow — I  give  myself  to  thee  right  now.  I 
wiH  say  yes  to  thee  now  and  forever."  God  help  them  by  thy  Spirit  that  this  may 
be  their  decision,  and  made  known  before  we  go.    For  Jesus'  precious  sake.  Amen. 

We  will  sing  this  invitation  song  before  we  go : 

Jesus  is  tenderly  calling  thee  home — 

Calling   to-day,    calling   to-day. 
Why  from  the  sunshine  of  love  wilt  thou  roam. 

Farther  and  farther  away? 

Aren't  you  ready  to  say :  "Sir,  I  am  ready  to  announce 
my  decision  for  Christ.  Waiting  cannot  help  me.  Wait- 
ing might  ruin  me.  I  want  it  settled,  and  settled  Christ's 
way,  and  His  way  is  for  me  to  yield  myself  to  Him."  Come, 
then,  before  all  the  people,  and  let  me  greet  you  as  yoti 


288  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

make  your  public  confession  of  Christ  as.  your  Savior. 

(Numbers  came  forward,  confessing  Christ,  while  the 
song  was  being  sung.) 

We  are  going  to  offer  a  prayer  of  thanksgiving,  in  a 
moment,  for  these  men  and  women  and  children  who  have 
come,  but  I  implore  you,  before  we  pray,  oh,  Christian  men 
and  women,  dedicate  your  best  to  this  special  work  these 
three  days  remaining.  I  believe  they  are  to  be  of  the  right 
hand  of  God.  Dedicate  your  utmost  to  the  incomparable 
quest  of  winning  souls.  The  mother,  the  father,  the  wife, 
the  husband,  the  friend,  the  neighbor,  the  acquaintance — oh, 
you  ought  to  bring  to  the  services  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  people  who  are  without  Christ.  And  you  will  pray 
much  I  beseech  you,  that  the  preacher  may  bring  such 
faithful,  vital  messages,  that  every  soul  that  shall  attend 
may  be  left  without  excuse,  if  such  soul  shall  be  finally 
lost.  We  will  pray  about  the  midday  service  to-morrow, 
and  the  midday  service  Saturday,  and  about  the  services 
that  are  to  be  had,  God  willing,  on  Friday  night,  and  on 
Sunday.  Let  us  dedicate  our  very  lives  to  this  work,  that 
the  people  all  about  us  may  be  turned  unto  the  Lord. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now.  Lord,  deep  is  our  thanksgiving  for  the  coming  of  these  men  and 
women  and  children  to  confess  their  acceptance  of  Christ  as  their  personal 
Savior.     The  glory  is  all  thine  own. 

May  all  these  men  and  women  and  children  who  came,  go  now  to  live 
gloriously  for  Christ.  Let  them  see  the  truth,  clear  as  the  light,  that  Christ  does 
the  saving,  and  does  it  all,  and  that  any  soul  that  surrenders  to  Him,  henceforth 
has  Christ  for  his  Savior  and  Master.  Let  such  souls,  through  the  darkness,  cling 
to  Christ,  no  matter  what  comes. 

Some  did  not  come,  and  our  heart  ached  with  an  agony  about  them.  Lord, 
may  they  yet  come  to  Christ  to-night,  before  they  close  their  eyes  in  sleep.  O 
God,  may  these  interested  ones  now  say  to  Jesus:  "We  will  end  this  battle,  and 
this  very  night  v/e  will  make  our  surrender  to  Christ,"  and  may  they  come  back 
to  tell  us  to-morrow  night,  "We  are  going  with  you  to  God's  gracious  land."  O 
God,  have  compassion  on  the  lost  all  about  us.  We  are  thinking  of  many  as  we 
are  coming  to  the  close  of  the  services — of  men  and  women  driven  hard  in  life's 
daily  battle;  of  business  men  preoccupied;  toiling  men,  whose  lot  in  life  is  hard; 
of  men  with  burdens  and  sorest  difficulties.  O,  for  every  such  man  and  woman. 
Lord,  toiling,  and  struggling,  may  there  go  such  appeals  from  these  men  and 
women,  in  the  hours  just  ahead,  that  all  through  this  city,  they  shall  know,  by 
the  hundreds  and  thousands,  how  much  Christ's  people  care  for  their  salvation. 
And  then  may  the  people  in  all  ranks  and  conditions — the  men  who  are  poor,  and 
the  men  with  their  money,  supposing  that  that  suffices,  but  which  has  in  it  awful 
peril,  because  it  can  make  the  soul  to  be  filled  with  pride  and  self-sufficiency  and 
forgetfulness  of  God — may  they  all  be  told  this  by  lips  of  love  and  blessed  appeal, 
which  God  shall  direct  in  the  hours  just  before  us._  May  the  spirit^  of  prayer 
mightily  rest  on  the  hearts  and  heads  and  lives  of  this  army  of  Christians.  May 
there  be  many  anointed  of  God  to  go  here  and  there,  to  speak  to  son,  or  daugh- 
ter, or  husband,  cr  wife,  or  mother,  or  father,  or  neighbor  or  acquaintance,  and 
so  to  speak  to  God  in  prayer,  that  the  Divine  Spirit  may  give  guidance,  yea,  give 
conviction  to  hundreds  in  these  days  before  us,  that  they  may  be  turned  by 
grace  divine  unto  the  forgiving  Savior. 

And  as  we  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord  come  like  a 
balm  *o  our  every  heart,  and  keep  us  in  the  right  way,  forever.     Amen. 


XX 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  22,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

In  a  moment  I  am  to  read  a  brief  passage  from  the 
Scriptures,  but  before  reading  I  would  take  time  to  follow 
up  the  earnest  word  said  by  the  brother  pastor,  about 
our  turning  to  the  best  possible  account  these  two  or 
three  remaining  days  appointed  for  the  special  meeting. 
There  are  some  occasions  far  more  favorable  than  others 
for  helping  people  religiously.  Such  an  occasion  is  a  se- 
ries of  meetings  in  which  the  way  is  made  easy  and  nat- 
ural for  you  to  ask  people  to  come  with  you  to  the  public 
services;  and  then  when  you  have  gone  that  far,  the  way 
is  easy  and  natural,  more  than  it  ordinarily  is,  for  you 
to  follow  up  your  invitation  with  the  right  kind  of  con- 
versation and  questioning  and  testimony  about  personal 
religion.  We  must  never  get  avv'ay  from  the  immeasur- 
ably important  truth  that  the  personal  element  is  indis- 
pensable in  our  witnessing  and  working  for  Christ.  There 
are  lives  all  about  us  that  would  be  changed,  if  a  conver- 
sation of  a  half  hour  or  less,  of  the  right  sort  were  had 
with  them.  There  are  Christians  in  the  darkness — they 
scarcely  know  why,  or  they  may  know  why — who  would 
be  immediately  changed  for  the  better,  if  a  conversation 
were  had  with  them,  by  the  right  person,  in  the  right 
way,  at  the  right  time.  And  there  are  people  all  about  us, 
pre-occupied,  and  the  things  eternal  have  little  place  in 
their  thoughts.    Oh,  if  they  could  be  spoken  with,  if  they 

289 


290  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

could  be  approached,  if  they  could  be  appealed  to,  if  they 
could  be  conversed  with  in  the  right  way !  I  pray  you,  my 
fellow  Christians,  all  of  you  and  each  of  you,  one  by  one, 
turn  to  the  best  account  these  days  for  helping  the  people. 
A  meeting  like  this — indeed,  every  meeting — ought  to  be 
constructive;  and  what  an  inspiring  thing  it  is,  when 
scores  and  hundreds  of  Christians,  coming  to  the  midday 
service,  and  the  vaster  number  to  the  evening  service,  go 
out  through  the  day,  and  as  best  they  can,  speak  for 
Christ  personally  to  the  people. 

In  this  midday  service,  the  preacher  has  desired  earn- 
estly each  day  to  bring  some  simple  but  vital  word,  that 
would  help  us  as  we  face  the  battle  of  daily  life.  He  has 
desired  to  call  us  all  back  to  the  simplicities  and  vitalities 
of  life.  This  morning,  I  am  to  speak  to  you  on  an  old, 
but  remarkably  important  theme,  namely :  "How  May  We 
Know  Jesus  Better?"  That  theme  is  suggested  by  the 
Scripture  which  I  now  read  to  you.  You  are  ready  to  hear 
with  reverence,  as  I  read  from  the  third  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians : 

But  what  things  were  gain  to  me,  those  I  counted  loss  for  Christ.  Yea, 
doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord:  for  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do 
count  them  but  refuse,  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him,  not  having 
mine  own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  laut  that  which  is  through  the  faith 
of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith:  that  I  may  know  Him, 
and  the  power  c3  His  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings,  being 
made  conformable  unto  His  death;  if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  Not  as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were 
already  perfect:  but  I  follow  after,  if  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which  also 
I  am  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus. 

HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER? 

Text:     "That   I  may  know  Him." — Philippians  3:10. 

One  little  sentence  in  the  midst  of  those  several  sen- 
tences, points  the  message  for  us  to-day:  "That  I  may 
know  Him." 

Paul's  deepest  and  most  fervent  longing  evidently  was 
to  know  Jesus  better,  just  as  it  should  be  our  deepest  long- 
ing to  know  Jesus  better  every  day  we  live,  because  the 
knowledge  most  of  all  desirable  and  necessary  is  the 
knowledge  of  God  in  Christ.  Christ  came  down  to  the 
world  to  show  us  the  Father.  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath 
seen  the  Father."     Jesus  stood  among  men  and  said  in 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     291 

effect  to  them:  "I  am  God  uncovered.  When  you  see 
me,  you  see  the  Father — you  see  God."  Now,  the  knowl- 
edge most  of  all  desirable  and  necessary  is  the  knowledge 
of  God  revealed  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Savior.  Such  knowl- 
edge gives  us  a  grip  on  the  great  spiritual  realities,  and 
we  need  to  have  such  knowledge,  even  above  all  other 
knowledge. 

How  much,  then,  do  we  know  about  Jesus  now?  To 
begin  with,  how  much  does  each  man  and  woman,  listen- 
ing to  me  here  know  about  Jesus  now?  Just  what  is  your 
conception  of  Christ  Jesus?  Is  Christ  real  to  you,  as  some 
other  person  is  real  to  you — real  to  you  like  mother,  or 
father,  or  dearest  earthly  loved  one?  How  real  is  Christ 
to  you?  We  are  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  Christ 
is  a  person.  He  is  not  a  principle — He  is  a  person.  He 
thinks.  He  lives.  He  commands.  He  feels.  He  is  a  person. 
The  theory  that  God  is  a  principle  is  fundamentally  incor- 
rect. God  is  not  a  principle  at  all.  God  announces  princi- 
ples. He  teaches  principles.  A  great  person,  He  is  behind 
them.  Now,  how  real  is  Christ  to  us,  to  begin  with  ?  How 
much  do  we  know  about  Him  to-day?  He  is  not  some  in- 
spiring memory.  He  is  not  some  vague  dream.  He  is  not 
some  empty  abstraction.  He  is  a  person,  to  be  trusted  and 
loved  and  followed  forever — real  as  mother,  real  as  teacher, 
real  as  physician,  real  as  the  most  gracious,  devoted  earthly 
friend — a  person.  Christ  is  that  to  men.  How  real  is  He 
to  us?  How  real  is  Christ  to  you?  How  much  do  you 
know  about  Him  right  now?  How  much  does  your  inner 
nature  know  about  Christ? 

Some  years  ago,  I  was  preaching  to  one  of  the  universi- 
ties of  several  hundred  men,  for  several  days,  and  the 
next  to  the  last  morning  had  come,  when  the  senior  class 
of  thirty,  with  one  exception,  waited  on  me  in  a  body.  One 
of  the  men  was  not  there,  but  the  twenty-nine  said:  *'We 
have  come  to  ask  how  long  you  will  be  here?"  I  said: 
''This  morning  and  in  the  morning,  and  then  I  must  be 
away  for  my  home."  They  said:  "We  have  come  to  ask 
you  to  pray  specially  for  one  of  our  seniors.  We  are  to 
be  graduated  in  a  few  weeks.  Our  class  of  thirty  men  are 
all  Christians,  save  this  one  man."    And  they  were  gener- 


292  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ous  in  their  tributes  to  him.  They  said:  "He  has  the 
brightest  mind  in  all  the  class,  the  keenest  intellect  in  all 
the  group,  but  he  is  an  unbeliever  outright.  He  does  not 
accept  what  you  are  saying.  He  does  not  accept  what  we 
profess.  Oh,"  said  they,  "do  your  best  for  him.  He  insists 
that  he  must  have  facts,  if  he  ever  is  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian; he  must  have  facts.  He  insists  that  he  is  a  scientist 
and  must  have  facts."  They  said :  "Do  your  best  for  him." 
I  went  up  the  stairway  to  the  chapel  auditorium,  and 
changed  my  subject  as  I  came  up  those  steps.  "This  man 
must  have  facts.  Very  well,  I  will  give  him  a  great  fact, 
and  let  him  reckon  with  that."  And  so  I  came,  a  few  min- 
utes later,  with  the  text:  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
of  God  hath  the  witness  in  himself."  And  I  asked  the 
men:  "What  will  you  do  with  the  fact  of  Christian  ex- 
perience? Once  I  did  not  know  anytlii|ig  about  Christ,  and 
once  the  less  I  heard  of  Him  the  better  it  suited  me.  But 
He  crossed  my  path  in  the  preaching  of  His  gospel,  and 
I  was  arrested.  I  was  m.ade  serious.  I  prayed.  I  surren- 
dered to  Him,  though  it  was  as  dark  as  midnight,  and  my 
conscience  knows  that  He  has  spoken  peace  to  me.  Now, 
what  will  you  do  with  that  fact?  What  will  you  do  with 
the  fact  of  Christian  experience?  Here  is  the  fact.  What 
will  you  do  with  it?" 

You  remember  that  incident,  do  you  not,  of  Dr.  James 
Simpson,  the  eminent  scientist?  He  had  been  waited  upon, 
one  day,  by  a  group  of  fellow  scientists,  who  would  pay 
the  distinguished  scientist  their  respects  and  honor,  and 
one  spoke  for  the  rest,  telling  him  of  the  tribute  in  which 
the  world  held  him  as  a  scientist,  and  then  presently  said 
to  him :  "Sir  James,  if  you  should  name  your  greatest  dis- 
covery of  all  that  you  have  ever  made,  what  would  that 
discovery  be?"  And  in  one  moment  Sir  James  Simpson's 
eyes  were  filled  with  tears,  and  he  said :  "My  greatest  dis- 
covery, gentlemen,  is  that  Jesus  Christ  has  forgiven  my 
sins  and  saved  me."  What  will  you  do  now  with  the  fact 
of  Christian  experience? 

So  those  students  followed  me  down  to  the  president's 
office,  from  day  to  day,  where  for  two  hours  each  day  I 
conversed  privately  with  the  students.    I  had  not  reached 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     293 

the  president's  office  more  than  a  moment,  until  there  was 
a  knock  on  the  outer  door,  and  I  opened  it,  and  there  stood 
the  skeptic.  I  offered  him  a  chair,  and  he  said:  "No,  I 
needn't  sit  down.  I  will  be  through  in  just  a  moment." 
And  then  he  was  generous  enough  to  say  to  me :  'T  believe 
in  you,  or  I  would  not  be  here  at  all.  I  think  you  are  en- 
tirely candid  and  sincere,  or  I  would  not  be  here  at  all. 
Now,"  he  said,  "you  will  forget  that  you  are  a  preacher,  and 
forget  that  I  am  a  senior  to  be  graduated  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  answer  a  question  I  am  going  to  put  to  you."  "Very 
well,  young  man;  I  will  answer  it  if  I  can,"  I  said,  "and 
I  will  be  entirely  frank.  If  I  can,  I  will  answer  your  ques- 
tion, and  if  I  cannot,  I  will  tell  you  so."  "All  right,"  he 
said,  "here  is  my  question :  Mr.  Truett,  is  Jesus  Christ , 
real  to  you,  by  which  I  mean,  does  your  heart  know,  your  ^ 
life  know,  your  brain  know,  your  inner  self  know,  that  He 
helps  you?  Yes  or  tio,  is  He  real  to  you  like  that?"  Now, 
that  was  challenging  me  with  a  proposition  very  real  and 
candid  and  searching.  It  was  the  acid  test.  What  would 
you  have  said?  Well,  I  will  tell  you  what  I  said,  if  you 
will  not  look  on  it  as  offensively  personal.  I  laid  my  hand 
on  his  shoulder,  and  I  said:  "Young  man,  if  the  truth  is 
in  me,  if  I  know  what  the  truth  is,  if  I  am  not  utterly  be- 
darkened  and  deceived  about  the  truth  and  about  life  and 
about  all  things,  then  I  declare  to  you  that  Jesus  is  more 
real  in  His  help  to  me  than  is  any  other  being  in  the  world. 
When  every  other  being  has  failed  me,  He  has  not  failed 
me.  When  I  have  been  on  the  storm-swept  sea,  and  there 
was  no  chart,  nor  guide,  nor  rudder,  nor  compass  for  my 
little  boat,  and  when  the  wild  winds  and  waves  beat  over  me 
and  drove  that  boat,  I  called  to  Him,  and  said,  *Thou  alone 
canst  help.'  And  He  answered  back :  'I  will  help.  Put  your 
trust  in  me  and  be  unafraid.'  The  one  thing,  young  mxan, 
that  my  heart  does  know  is  that  Jesus  helps  me."  And 
then  he  turned  on  his  heel,  his  face  serious,  and  he  said: 
"I  will  seek  Him,"  and  he  left  my  room.  The  next  morning 
came  on,  and  I  stood  to  make  the  last  address  to  the  college 
men,  and  I  finished  and  said:  "Now  the  cab  waits  at  the 
door  for  me.  I  must  hurry  to  the  train  to  get  back  to  my 
home,  but  before  I  go,  has  another  man  tried  Jesus,  just 


294  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

honestly  surrendered  his  case,  doubts,  darknesses,  fears, 
sins,  difficulties,  questions — all  of  it?  Has  he  surrendered 
his  case  to  Christ?  Does  another  man  say:  *I  have  done 
that?'  Before  I  go  I  wish  he  would  walk  down  the  aisle 
and  take  my  hand."  And  the  clever  skeptic  back  yonder 
started  toward  me,  and  the  men  saw  him,  and  they  threw 
their  hats  to  the  ceiling,  they  were  so  moved,  and  then 
hundreds  of  them  bowed  at  their  pews  and  sobbed,  for  the 
carping  skeptic  was  coming  out  of  the  darkness  into  the 
light.    He  just  tried  Christ.    He  just  gave  up  to  Christ. 

Is  Christ  real  to  you?  This  morning  I  am  to  give  you 
several  suggestions  about  how  we  may  make  Him  more 
real,  and  you  will  amplify  them  in  your  thought  and  heart 
as  you  go  your  ways.  If  we  are  to  know  Jesus  better,  then 
I  come  to  say  we  must  make  much  of  His  Book.  God's 
first  gift  to  the  world  is  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  His  second 
best  gift  to  the  world  is  the  Bible.  The  Bible  reveals  Jesus. 
Nature  does  not  say  a  word  about  Jesus.  Nature  speaks 
the  fact  of  the  great  God.  The  heavens  declare  His  glory ; 
the  firmament  showeth  His  handiwork ;  but  nature  nowhere 
says  a  word  about  His  mercy  and  His  forgiveness  in  Christ, 
the  appointed  Savior.  The  Bible  tells  about  Jesus.  If  you 
and  I  are  to  know  about  Jesus,  the  one  mediator  between 
God  and  us,  then  we  must  come  to  the  Bible  and  search. 
Oh,  my  friends,  I  pause  a  moment  to  make  an  appeal  that 
we  will  treat  right  this  Holy  Book  of  God.  It  is  appalling 
how  little  very  many  strong  and  clever  people  know  about 
the  Bible.  Chinese  Gordon  said,  when  he  went  down  into 
the  Sudan,  taking  with  him  his  splendid  library,  that  it  was 
not  long  until  he  found  out  that  he  did  not  really  need  his 
library  at  all.  He  said  he  needed  really  only  two  books — • 
first,  the  Bible,  and  then,  next,  the  Bible  concordance,  that 
would  enable  him  to  find  quickly  any  passage  in  the  Bible 
that  he  needed  to  find.  We  want  more  and  more  to  mag- 
nify this  Bible.  Of  old,  God  said:  "My  people  are  de- 
stroyed for  lack  of  knowledge."  We  might  say  that  to-day. 
If  men  are  rooted  and  grounded  in  their  knowledge  of  the 
Bible,  they  will  go  out  against  any  sin,  against  any  foe, 
against  any  difficulty,  and  they  will  overcome,  for  the  Bible 
is  a  signboard  pointing  us  to  Christ. 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     295 

And  again,  I  say  if  we  are  to  know  Jesus  better,  then 
we  need  to  have  a  time  in  our  lives  for  meditation.  I  won- 
der now  if  meditation  is  not  practically  a  lost  art  in  our 
lives.  Who  of  us  stops  now  to  go  into  the  quiet  place, 
where,  all  alone,  we  will  just  meditate  on  the  things  of 
supreme  worth?  This  injunction  that  we  shall  have  a  place 
and  habit  in  our  daily  life  to  be  alone  for  some  minutes 
for  meditation  on  the  deep,  high  things,  is  a  matter  of  pro- 
foundest  concern,  in  these  days  of  stress  and  hurry  and 
rush  and  extravagance.  Oh,  how  important  that  every  man 
and  woman  should  find  a  quiet  place  in  some  nook  to  have 
daily  meditation  on  the  high  things  for  the  help  of  the 
soul!  The  psalmist  said:  "My  meditation  of  Him  shall 
be  sweet."  You  remember  how  Ezekiel  pictured  those 
mystic  creatures,  with  their  mystic  wings  and  mystic  faces, 
and  then  the  prophet  went  on  to  say:  "When  they  stood, 
they  let  down  their  wings."  And  all  along  every  one  of 
us  needs  to  let  down  the  wings,  and  just  wait  on  God.  He 
himself  says :  "Wait  on  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  strengthen 
thine  heart.    Wait,  I  say,  on  the  Lord." 

And  I  am  coming  to  say  next,  if  we  are  to  know  Jesus 
better,  then  we  must  magnify  the  habit  daily  of  secret  pray- 
er. Mind  you,  I  said,  secret  prayer.  Now,  isn't  it  just  at 
that  point  that  all  of  us  are  tempted  sadly  to  fail  ?  What  if 
I  pass  the  question  to  this  crowded  auditorium  floor  this 
morning,  life  by  life,  person  by  person,  and  pause  there  at 
your  heart  and  ask:  "How  much  do  you  pray  in  secret, 
day  by  day?"  What  would  your  answer  be?  Isn't  it  just 
at  that  point  that  most  sadly  we  fail?  The  Bible  says: 
"AVhen  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou 
hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ; 
and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee 
openly."  I  believe  that  Arnold  of  Rugby,  that  master  teach- 
er of  boys,  was  entirely  right  when  he  said  that,  no  matter 
what  a  man's  or  woman's  difficulty,  or  what  the  sin,  or 
what  the  doubt,  or  what  the  struggle,  or  what  the  tempta- 
tion, or  what  the  barrier,  if  such  man  or  woman  would  go 
into  the  secret  place,  and  there  bare  the  soul  honestly  in 
secret  prayer  to  God,  such  man  or  woman  would  be  brought 
out  of  the  darkness  and  be  given  victory  over  the  trial.    I 


296  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

believe  he  is  right.  It  was  when  Moses  was  alone  with 
God,  that  God  gave  him  the  sight  of  that  bush  that  burned, 
but  was  not  consumed.  It  was  when  Isaiah  was  alone  with 
God,  that  God  gave  him  that  three-fold  vision  of  God,  and 
of  himself,  and  of  his  fellow  humanity,  that  completely 
changed  the  young  prophet's  life.  It  was  when  Jacob  was 
alone  with  God,  yonder  at  Jabbok  on  a  lonely  night,  that 
God  made  that  man  over,  made  him  a  prince,  so  that  ever 
afterward  Jacob  prevailed  with  men,  because  he  had  power 
with  God.  It  was  when  Paul  was  alone  with  God,  that  he 
was  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,  and  heard  and  saw 
what  he  could  never  tell.  It  was  when  John  was  alone 
with  God,  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  that  there  were  vouch- 
safed to  him  visions  and  revelations  of  the  other  world, 
some  glimpses  of  which  John  gives  us  here  in  the  book  of 
Revelation.  It  was  when  Luther  was  alone  with  God,  that 
he  got  visions  of  God  and  truth  that  he  w^ent  out  to  speak, 
and  so  spoke  them  and  wrote  them,  that  he  set  tyrants  to 
trembling  and  thrones  to  tottering,  and  brought  in  the 
mental  and  moral  reformation  of  Germany  and  Europe 
and  the  world.  It  was  when  Bunyan  was  alone  with  God, 
that  God  gave  him  visions  which  he  penned  in  a  book — 
which  book  is  an  allegory  unmatched,  and  forever,  perhaps, 
to  be  matchless;  a  book  probably  next  in  importance  to 
the  Holy  Word  of  God. 

But  I  will  come  closer  to  you  than  to  call  your  attention 
to  these  great  worthies  of  whom  I  have  spoken.  Oh,  it  is 
when  you  and  I,  with  our  burden  and  battle,  with  our 
stress  and  difficulty,  with  our  sin  and  temptation,  make  it 
a  point  to  be  alone  with  God,  and  bare  ourselves  before 
Him,  telling  Him :  "I  cannot  let  thee  go  except  thou  bless 
me" — it  is  then  we  are  given  victory  and  made  princes  in 
His  sight. 

May  I  speak  a  word  about  my  mother,  now  in  that 
yonder  land  these  last  few  years,  the  best  Christian  I 
ever  saw?  May  I  speak  a  word  about  her  faith?  I 
was  reared  in  a  large  family,  far  out  on  the  farm,  and  I 
remember  that  when  father  and  the  older  boys  used  to  go 
to  the  farm,  the  least  little  fellow,  about  four,  and  myself, 
about  six,  too  little  to  work,  stayed  behind,  and  many  are 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     297 

the  times  I  have  seen  my  mother  in  the  morning  sobbing, 
and  I  have  gone  and  said :  ''Mother,  what  makes  you  cry?'' 
And  she  would  say :  "You  are  too  little,  my  boy,  to  under- 
stand. Never  mind.  Don't  worry  about  mother."  And 
when  the  breakfast  was  over,  and  all  the  little  things  were 
done  about  the  house  in  the  morning,  mother  has  said  to 
the  two  little  boys:  ''Now,  you  stay  here  while  mother 
goes  aside  to  be  alone  a  little  while."  And  she  would  go 
away  with  face  suffused  with  tears,  and  she  would  come 
back  in  a  little  while,  and  every  time  she  would  come  back 
singing,  with  a  smile  on  her  face  fairer  than  the  morning. 
And  one  morning  I  said  to  the  little  brother:  "What  do 
you  guess  happens  to  mother?  She  goes  away  crying,  and 
she  comes  back  singing.  Let  us  see  what  it  is."  We  fol- 
lowed along  quietly  behind  her,  and  she  went  there  into 
the  orchard,  near  the  little  country  home,  and  we  saw  her 
and  heard  her.  She  was  down  on  her  face  before  God.  I 
can  remember  until  yet  the  surpassing  pathos  of  her  pray- 
ers. She  said :  "Lord  Jesus,  I  never  can  rear  this  houseful 
of  boys  like  they  ought  to  be  reared,  without  thy  help.  I 
will  make  shipwreck  with  them,  without  thy  help.  I  cannot 
guide  them,  I  cannot  counsel  them,  I  cannot  be  the  mother 
that  a  woman  ought  to  be  to  her  children,  without  God's 
help.  I  will  cleave  to  thee.  Teach  me  and  help  me,  every 
hour."  I  heard  her  like  that,  and  then  she  came  back,  sing- 
ing, every  morning.  And  when  I  grew  older,  and  when 
manhood  was  reached,  and  when  I  learned  in  my  heart 
what  it  is  to  know  Jesus,  I  knew  the  secret  into  which  my 
mother  entered.  She  was  the  greatest  Christian  I  ever 
saw.  It  is  when  you  and  I  tread  the  path  of  secret  prayer 
that  we  find  out  about  Jesus,  and  are  given  to  enter  into 
the  secret  of  His  presence. 

And,  again,  if  you  and  I  are  to  know  Jesus  better,  we 
must  watch  with  uncompromising  watchfulness  against 
sin.  The  only  thing  that  will  hide  the  face  of  God  from 
us  is  sin.  He  says:  "Your  sins  have  separated  between 
you  and  me."  Sin  is  a  veil  through  which  Jesus  cannot 
be  seen.  Sin  is  an  insulator  that  cuts  off  the  currents  be- 
tween God  and  us.  I  say  it  reverently,  God  cannot  aflford 
to  answer  some  people  when  they  pray,  because  they  keep 


298  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

hidden  back  in  their  hearts  some  wrong  thing,  some  wedge 
of  gold,  some  Babylonish  garment,  some  evil  thing.  Recall 
what  David  said:  "If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the 
Lord  will  not  hear  me."  If  you  and  I  are  to  know  Jesus 
better  and  better,  then  we  must  put  away  every  evil  thing. 
We  must  refuse  to  let  any  kind  of  sin  have  a  dominant 
place  anywhere  in  our  lives. 

I  go  on  to  say  that  if  we  are  to  know  Jesus  better,  then 
we  are  to  make  much  of  companionship  with  the  right 
kind  of  Christians.  How  much  there  is  in  that!  The 
longer  I  live,  the  more  I  am  finding  out  the  truth  that  life's 
companionships  very  largely  make  us  or  mar  us  in  our 
earthly  way.  The  Bible  tells  us :  "He  that  walketh  with 
wise  men  shall  be  wise,"  and  it  adds :  "But  the  companion 
of  fools  shall  be  destroyed."  It  tells  us:  "Evil  communi- 
cations corrupt  good  manners."  There  came  a  time  in 
my  life  when  doubt,  deep,  dark  and  terrible,  settled  down 
on  me,  as  if  it  would  clutch  my  throat  to  my  utter  doom. 
I  need  not  now  recite  the  why.  Doubt  and  darkness  and 
trouble  come  from  a  thousand  sources.  I  came  to  the  place 
where  all  was  dark  as  midnight,  and  a  man  several  years 
my  senior,  both  physically  and  religiously,  seemed  intui- 
tively to  know  that  I  had  come  to  a  crisis  in  my  spiritual 
life.  And  so  one  day  he  said  to  me:  "If  you  have  the 
time,  I  should  like  for  us  to  go  for  a  walk  in  the  woods. 
I  have  something  to  say  to  you."  We  went  for  a  two 
hours'  walk  in  the  woods,  and  it  marked  an  epoch  in  my 
life.  He  told  me  how,  years  before,  darkness  and  doubt 
had  come  to  him,  and  his  faith  was  well-nigh  shattered, 
and  then  he  told  me  what  he  did,  and  where  he  went,  and 
he  described  my  own  case  as  he  talked  about  his.  He  de- 
scribed my  case  better  than  I  could  describe  it,  and  after 
that  two  hours'  walk  in  the  woods,  wherein  he  did  most 
of  the  talking,  I  came  back,  having  passed  an  epoch  in 
my  life.  Oh,  tell  somebody  your  Christian  experience! 
And  if  you  are  in  the  darkness  and  must  say :  "I  do  not 
know  whether  I  have  one  to  tell,"  then  go  to  somebody  in 
whom  you  have  confidence,  and  say  to  him  or  her :  "What 
is  Christ  to  you?    Tell  me  what  He  is  to  you." 

There  was  once  an  old  shoemaker  in  my  city,  one  of 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     299 

the  most  victorious  saints  I  ever  knew;  and  often,  when 
darkness  came  to  me,  and  when  questions  arose,  I  have 
closed  my  study  door  and  gone  down  to  his  shoe-shop  and 
said  to  him:  "Tell  me  once  again,  I  pray  you,  your  Chris- 
tian experience."  And  before  he  was  through,  sermons 
flew  through  my  mind  like  a  covey  of  birds.  He  knew 
God !  He  led  me  into  the  secret  places,  as  he  told  me  what 
God  had  done  for  him. 

There  is  another  very  practical  word  to  be  said.  If  we 
are  to  know  Jesus  better,  then  we  are  to  be  busy  for  Him. 
Will  you  heed  that?  Idleness  explains  a  thousand  doubts. 
The  idle  Christian  is  always  in  trouble.  Satan  always 
finds  mischief  for  the  idle  hand.  The  idle  brain  is  his 
workshop.  The  biggest  sociological  problem  in  this  coun- 
try, in  the  entire  social  order,  is  the  problem  of  idleness. 
Out  there  in  the  realm  of  government,  in  the  realm  of  busi- 
ness, the  idler  is  the  menacing  problem.  And  when  you 
come  to  religion,  idleness  is  a  terrible  menace.  If  you  are 
idle,  and  darkness  has  come  to  you,  and  you  cannot  see 
your  way  religiously,  just  remember  that  your  idleness 
may  explain  it  all.  Even  John  the  Baptist,  who  stood  be- 
fore Herod,  the  purple-robed  ruler,  and  unquailingly  called 
Herod  to  time  for  his  wickedness  and  sin — even  that  brave 
spirit,  when  he  was  put  in  jail,  and  had  a  season  of  en- 
forced inactivity,  plaintively  sent  some  of  his  men  out 
yonder,  where  Jesus  was,  to  ask  Jesus  the  question :  "Art 
thou  He  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?" 
John  the  Baptist's  heart  became  faint  and  fearful  when 
he  was  inactive. 

I  am  thinking  now  of  a  fine  young  fellow,  a  leader  in 
both  the  world  of  business  and  the  social  world,  who  came 
for  six  Sunday  nights  in  succession  where  I  was  preaching, 
and  on  the  sixth  Sunday  night,  confessed  Christ,  and  took 
his  place  in  the  church.  I  never  knew  a  more  devoted, 
more  valiant  young  man  for  Christ  for  a  year,  and  then 
after  a  year,  he  began  to  drift.  I  missed  him  out  of  the 
prayer-meeting — and  every  Christian  ought  to  go  to  pray- 
er-meeting— and  I  missed  him  out  of  the  Sunday  school — 
and  every  Christian  ought  to  go  to  the  Sunday  school — 
and  I  missed  him  out  of  the  Sunday  service,  and  I  said  to 


300  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

some  of  the  young  men :  "What  about  him  ?"  They  said : 
"We  fear  he  is  drifting."  I  said:  "Do  your  best  to  help 
him."  One  Sunday  morning,  a  little  after  that,  I  saw  him 
in  the  audience,  and  he  was  much  moved  under  the  service 
we  had,  and  I  dismissed  the  people  and  went  back  into 
my  study,  and  immediately  there  was  a  knock  on  my  door, 
and  in  came  this  young  man,  and  he  said:  "When  is  the 
next  business  meeting  of  our  church?"  "Why,"  I  said, 
"next  Wednesday  night."  He  said :  "Have  my  name  taken 
off  the  church  roll  next  Wednesday  night."  I  said:  "Why? 
You  must  give  a  reason.  That  sort  of  thing  must  be  done 
carefully  and  wisely.  The  Scriptures  so  teach.  What  rea- 
son shall  we  give  when  we  say  your  name  is  to  be  ex- 
punged from  the  church  roll  ?"  And  he  said :  "Oh,  I  think 
I  am  not  a  Christian.  I  guess  I  am  not,  and  the  sermon 
this  morning  went  like  an  arrow  through  me.  I  cannot 
be  inconsistent,  and  stay  in  the  church  if  I  am  not  a  Chris- 
tian." I  said:  "No,  if  a  man  is  not  a  Christian,  he  ought 
not  to  be  enrolled  as  a  member  in  the  church.  It  is  a  trag- 
edy for  an  unsaved  man  to  be  a  member  in  the  church, 
just  as  it  is  a  tragedy  for  a  saved  man  not  to  be  a  church 
member."  He  said:  "Well,  I  guess  you  had  better  have 
my  name  taken  off."  I  said:  "Listen  a  minute,"  and  I 
reviewed  those  six  Sunday  nights  when  he  came  to  the 
services,  and  then  recalled  that  sixth  Sunday  night,  when 
he  came  down  the  aisle  confessing  Christ,  and  then  the 
next  Sunday  morning,  when  he  took  his  place  in  the 
church,  and  that  night,  when  with  folded  hands  across 
his  breast,  he  was  buried  with  Christ  in  beautiful  bap- 
tism, and  then,  as  we  left  that  baptismal  stream,  how  he 
said  to  me,  with  his  face  moist  with  tears:  "Oh,  sir,  I 
am  going  to  live  for  Christ!"  And  how,  for  a  year  there- 
after, he  was  as  regular  at  the  church  house  as  was  the 
preacher,  and  then  something  bewitched  him  and  caused 
him  to  drift  away.  He  was  softly  sobbing,  as  I  reviewed 
all  this.  He  slowly  said:  "I  have  heard  you,  but  I  guess 
you  had  better  have  my  name  taken  off."  I  said :  "Come 
back  at  seven  o'clock,  thirty  minutes  before  the  church 
service,  this  evening,  and  we  will  talk  again  about  how 
to  proceed;  but  won't  you  do  me  a  favor  this  afternoon?" 


HOW  MAY  WE  KNOW  JESUS  BETTER?     301 

He  said:  "Certainly;  what  is  it?"  I  said:  "Take  my 
Bible,  or  yours,  and  go  across  the  city  to  old  man  So-and- 
so's  room,  and  read  the  Bible  to  him."  "What?  Read  the 
Bible  after  what  I  have  said  to  you?"  "Certainly."  "What 
shall  I  read?"  "Read  the  twenty-third  Psalm;  read  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Romans;  read  the  fourteenth  chapter 
of  John,  and  then  if  he  has  not  had  enough,  read  any  of 
the  Psalms,  any  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  come  back 
at  seven  o'clock,  and  we  will  talk  about  your  getting  out 
of  the  church."  He  went  his  way  with  a  serious  face,  and 
I  Vw'^ent  my  way  to  pray  for  him  much.  And  in  the  evening 
I  was  in  my  study,  and  five  minutes  before  seven,  there 
was  a  knock  on  the  door,  and  in  he  came,  laughing  and 
crying,  both  at  the  same  time,  and  he  said:  "Don't  sa}^ 
a  word  to  anybody  about  having  my  name  taken  from 
the  church  roll — not  a  word."  I  said:  "What  has  hap- 
pened?" "Oh,"  he  said,  "I  went  out  to  the  old  man's  house, 
and  I  read  the  Bible  to  him,  several  chapters,  and  we 
laughed  and  cried,  and  he  said  to  me,  presently:  *Young 
man,  v/on't  you  kneel  down  and  pray  for  me,  that  I  may 
be  patient  and  trustful  clear  on  to  the  end?  I  never  get 
to  hear  anybody  pray,'  he  said,  'but  the  pastor,  and  he  is 
so  busy  he  does  not  come  often.  Won't  you  pray  for 
me  ?' "  And  the  young  man  said :  "I  got  down  and  prayed, 
and  the  old  man  shouted."  And  the  young  man  said :  "I 
think  I  shouted,  too.  Don't  say  a  word  to  anybody  about 
my  leaving  the  church."  You  see  the  lesson:  Get  busy! 
Keep  busy  for  Jesus! 

One  more  word,  an3  we  will  go.  If  we  are  to  know 
Jesus  better,  let  us  pay  the  price  to  know  Him.  Every- 
thing worth  while  costs.  These  business  men  and  these 
professional  men  pay  the  price  for  their  success.  Paul 
said:  "I  paid  the  price."  "What  did  you  pay,  Paul?"  "I 
have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  for  Christ,  and  I  count 
them  but  refuse,  that  I  may  win  Christ." 

Men  and  women,  no  matter  what  your  experience,  your 
battles,  your  doubts,  your  sins,  your  difficulties — no  mat- 
ter what,  in  the  church  or  out — put  Christ  first,  and  days 
of  the  right  hand  of  God  and  of  heaven  on  earth  will  come 


302  A  QUEST  OF  SOULS 

to  you,  and  will  grow  brighter  and  happier  and  better, 
even  unto  the  perfect  and  eternal  day. 

THE  CLOSING  PRAYER. 

f.  AS'^j^^y:  ^L  y®  ^^'  L°'"<J  Jesus,  let  every  man  and  woman  here  feel  out 
after  God  with  aU  honesty,  that  thy  will  may  be  revealed  to  us  and  followed  by 
us.  And  let  every  man  and  woman  in  this  crowded  throng,  this  midday  hour, 
speak  fram  the  heart  this  high  decision:  "Jesus  shall  now  be  my  Savior  and 
Master,  by  my  choice,  my  quiet,  intelligent  and  final  choice.  Other  refuge  there 
IS  none.  Other  helpers  are  all  incompetent  and  insufficient.  Here  I  am,  a  dying 
man  or  woman,  fast  passing  through  time  into  a  land  eternal,  in  which  land  I  am 
forever  to  be  conscious,  for  Christ  there  and  with  Him,  or  against  Him  and  away 
from  Him.  O  Spirit  Divine,  bind  thou  thus  every  man  and  woman  here  to 
Jesus  to-day  and  forever! 

And  now,  as  you  go,  may  you  go  to  follow  Him  until  the  day  is  done,  and 
forever  to  do  His  wUl.    For  His  great  name's  sake.    Amen.  «    ,  ana 


XXI 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  22,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

The  regret  in  my  heart  is  very  deep,  as  was  indicated 
last  night,  that  I  cannot  at  this  time  tarry  beyond  the  com- 
ing Sunday  night,  in  these  special  daily  meetings.  I  beg 
you  to  know  that  I  should  gladly  tarry  for  several  weeks, 
as  per  the  greatly  appreciated  invitation  of  the  two  cher- 
ished pastors,  Drs.  Smith  and  Edwards,  and  their  noble 
churches,  the  Broadway  and  College  Avenue,  whose  guest 
I  am.  I  would  gladly  tarry  for  these  weeks,  if  I  could. 
The  meetings  in  our  cities  are  all  too  brief.  We  must 
come  more  and  more  to  plan  in  all  our  cities  for  extended 
meetings,  for  this  holiest  and  most  important  business  of 
all — that  of  winning  humanity  to  our  Lord.  These  greatly 
honored  pastors — and,  if  they  and  you  will  forgive  me  for 
saying  it  in  their  presence,  I  do  not  know  two  more  faithful 
and  trustworthy  men  of  God  within  all  my  acquaintance 
of  His  servants — these  two  men  and  their  noble  congrega- 
tions have  been  good  enough  to  want  me  to  come  again  for 
an  extended  visit,  and  at  the  earliest  possible  date  I  shall 
be  most  happy,  God  willing,  to  come  for  such  visit.  It 
would  be  right  now,  as  I  have  said,  but  for  an  engagement 
next  week  in  a  distant  state,  that  I  cannot  in  conscience 
put  aside. 

How  grateful  I  am  for  the  fellowship  and  blessings 
that  my  own  heart  has  experienced,  these  brief  days  cf 

303 


304  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

this  visit!  The  memories  of  these  days,  with  all  this  fel- 
lowship with  these  men  of  God  and  these  two  churches, 
and  with  other  men  and  women  of  God  who  have  come 
from  the  several  churches  throughout  the  city,  shall  come 
to  me  again  and  again,  like  some  sweet  dream  of  the  morn- 
ing. What  a  high  and  blessed  thing  is  the  fellowship  of 
God's  people!  One  of  the  evidences  that  I  have  that  I 
am  a  Christian  is  the  daily  deepening  interest  my  heart 
feels  for  every  person  in  this  world  v^^ho  accepts  Christ  as 
his  personal  Savior,  and  thz  longing  in  my  heart  that 
everybody  else  may  receive  Him  as  Savior  and  Lord  before 
it  is  too  late. 

I  beg  to  be  indulged  one  other  introductory  word,  and 
that  is  a  word  of  deep  personal  appreciation,  and,  indeed, 
of  deep  indebtedness  upon  the  part  of  us  all,  to  The  Record 
and  Star-Telegram,  these  two  great  daily  newspapers, 
that  have  so  generously  kept  the  meetings  before  the  peo- 
ple, inside  the  city  and  far  beyond.  Letters  many  have 
come  to  us,  during  these  days,  from  the  city  and  far  be- 
yond, that  these  extended  and  splendidly  written  reports 
of  the  meetings  have  carried  a  gracious  blessing  to  those 
who  could  not  come  here.  We  are  all  deeply  indebted 
to  those  who  have  written  the  reports,  and  to  the  forces 
that  have  seen  to  their  setting  up,  and  from  my  deepest 
heart  I  breathe  a  fervent  prayer  to  God  that  He  will  bless 
these  papers  yet  more  and  more,  and  crown  them  with 
constantly  increasing  usefulness. 

WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN? 

Text:  "And  now.  Lord,  what  wdt  I  for?    My  hope  is  in  thee." — Psa.  39:7. 

As  I  come  to  speak  this  evening,  there  are  two  emotions 
in  my  heart,  as  there  always  are,  when  I  approach  the 
closing  hours  of  some  special  meetings.  The  first  emotion 
is  the  emotion  of  gratitude.  How  grateful,  surely,  we  all 
are,  for  any  and  every  blessing  God  has  sent  the  people. 
To  His  name  be  every  dust  of  the  glory !  It  is  all  by  Him, 
if  any  blessing  has  come,  and  w^e  trust  that  many  have 
been  blessed.  The  mails  to-day  have  told  of  blessings 
that  we  had  not  dreamed  of  at  all,  of  citizens  for  whom 
you  have  prayed  who  mean  to  take  their  places  with  the 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        305 

people  of  God.  How  grateful  we  are  for  the  blessings 
which  God  has  sent!  How  grateful  for  the  inspiring  fel- 
lowship !  How  grateful  we  are  for  every  Christian  who 
has  been  renewed  in  spiritual  strength,  for  every  drifting 
Christian  who  has  been  arrested  from  such  course  and 
turned  back  to  the  right  course,  and  for  every  soul  that 
has  been  saved!  And  I  pause  just  there  for  a  sentence: 
Let  the  saved  man  and  woman  and  child  hasten  to  take 
their  places  in  the  church,  with  the  people  of  God.  And 
let  the  older,  maturer  Christians,  who  knov/  about  these 
babes  in  Christ,  be  certain  now  to  speak  the  word  of  coun- 
sel and  comfort  to  these  timid  Christians.  I  was  so  re- 
joiced to  hear  that  quite  a  group  thus  took  their  place, 
when  the  opportunity  was  given  them  last  Sunday  morn- 
ing. Oh,  I  trust  that  many  will  take  their  places  the  com- 
ing Sunday  with  the  people  of  God,  and  on  and  on  for 
weeks  and  months  and  years,  may  they  so  come  because 
of  these  meetings. 

There  is  another  deep  emotion  in  my  heart  as  we  ap- 
proach the  closing  hour  of  the  meetings.  That  is  the 
emotion  of  distinct  sorrow.  Not  all  who  come  to  a  meet- 
ing are  saved.  I  think  I  never  saw  a  meeting  come  to  its 
close  where  all  the  people  who  came,  who  were  not  Chris- 
tians, were  saved,  and  because  of  such  fact  sorrow  pungent 
comes  into  one's  heart.  That  is,  indeed,  a  solemn  Scripture 
where  the  refrain  is  given :  'The  harvest  is  past,  the  sum- 
mer is  ended,  and  we  are  not  saved."  And  especially 
are  those  two  last  words  painfully  ominous  and  suggest- 
ive— "not  saved,"  "not  saved."  That  means  not  ready  to 
die,  and  even  so,  it  means  not  ready  to  live,  for  one  who 
is  not  a  Christian  is  not  ready  for  any  world,  to  meet  it 
like  it  ought  to  be  met — not  ready  for  time,  not  ready  for 
eternity,  not  ready  for  death  or  life,  not  ready  really  to 
meet  any  experience  properly,  if  one  is  not  in  right  rela- 
tions with  God. 

I  wonder  why  the  one  before  me,  who  has  held  out 
against  Christ's  mercy  and  call,  has  done  so.  I  should 
like  to  ask  you  a  question,  which  question  shall  be  the 
theme  of  this  evening's  message:  Why  are  you  not  a 
Christian?    If  I  should  ask  if  all  in  this  presence  are  Chris- 


306  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

tians,  probably  nearly  all  would  stand  or  lift  their  hands 
to  answer  yes.  Thank  God !  But  not  all  would  either  lift 
their  hand  or  stand.  There  are  in  this  large  presence 
men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls  who  are  not  Chris- 
tians, and,  therefore,  not  saved.  Now  I  should  like  to  ask 
you  the  pointed  question:  Why  are  you  not  a  Christian? 
That  is  the  theme,  and  it  is  suggested  by  this  statement 
in  the  thirty-ninth  Psalm:  "And  now.  Lord,  what  wait 
I  for?    My  hope  is  in  thee." 

Here  was  a  man  who  evidently  had  been  waiting  to  do 
his  full  duty  for  quite  awhile.  He  was  meditating,  when 
he  uttered  this  sentence,  which  is  our  text.  He  looked 
around  him  and  saw  how  brief  the  earthly  life  is,  and  then 
how  unsatisfying  it  is,  and  he  commented  on  those  two 
arresting  facts  about  the  earthly  life.  He  said  the  earthly 
life  was  like  an  handbreadth,  it  was  so  brief,  it  went  away 
so  quickly,  it  was  so  uncertain.  And  we  see  that  illustrated 
every  day.  How  suddenly  life  is  terminated!  A  prayer 
was  offered  from  my  deepest  heart  to-day  when  I  noticed 
that  one  of  your  city  to-day  went  away  suddenly  into  the 
unseen  land,  and  my  prayer  was  for  all  his  loved  ones,  that 
God's  grace  might  be  sufficient  for  them  all,  and  that  we 
might  remember  that  in  such  an  hour  as  we  think  not, 
the  messenger  of  death  may  come  for  us.  How  brief  life 
is !  That  is  what  this  man  mused  and  meditated  upon,  and 
then  penned  it  here  for  us  in  this  Psalm.  How  brief  life 
is !  How  transitory !  How  fast  passing !  How  uncertain ! 
Let  us  wisely  lay  such  fact  to  heart. 

A  little  while  ago  a  business  man  in  one  of  our  cities 
got  up  early  to  read  the  Dallas  News,  as  was  his  wont, 
and  as  he  was  reading  it,  before  he  had  yet  pulled  on  his 
shoes,  he  said  to  his  wife,  who  had  not  yet  risen:  "Wife, 
listen  to  this,"  and  he  read  the  account  of  a  business  friend 
in  another  community,  who  had  the  day  before,  while  pull- 
ing on  his  shoes,  gasped  and  gone  away  into  eternity,  and 
the  man  called  his  wife's  attention,  as  he  read,  and  said: 
"I  do  not  expect  to  go  like  that."  And  in  a  few  moments 
more,  as  she  noticed  him,  he  gasped,  and  though  she  sum- 
moned the  physician,  who  was  near  by,  life  had  fled  when 
he  came.     A  judge  stood  up  in  one  of  our  communities, 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        307 

some  time  ago,  to  give  his  charge  to  the  jury,  in  an  im- 
portant case,  and  the  people  saw  him  tremble,  and  then 
sink  down,  and  in  a  moment  more  his  life  had  fled.  A 
noble  preacher  stood  in  one  of  our  Texas  pulpits,  a  little 
while  ago,  preaching  on  the  text:  "W^atch,  for  in  such  an 
hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh,"  and  as  he 
was  speaking  upon  that  solemn  text,  summoning  the  peo- 
ple to  remember  it,  he  gasped  before  his  audience,  and 
life  left  him  as  he  was  there  in  his  pulpit.  Human  life, 
how  illusory!  How  transient!  How  fast  passing!  How 
uncertain !    This  man  said  all  that  in  our  text. 

And  then  he  said  the  things  of  human  life  cannot  satisfy 
the  human  spirit.  Whatever  human  life  may  achieve,  what- 
ever it  brings,  whatever  it  is,  whatever  it  gives,  it  cannot 
satisfy  the  human  spirit.  Jesus  told  us  that  with  the  most 
striking  illustration  that  was  ever  given.  He  stated  a  ques- 
tion in  profit  and  loss,  never  equalled.  Here  it  is:  "What 
shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and 
lose  his  own  soul  ?"  It  is  the  greatest  question  in  profit  and 
loss  ever  stated  for  a  human  being.  "Go,"  said  Jesus  to 
the  man,  "and  get  the  whole  world,  all  that  it  has  of  wealth, 
all  that  it  has  of  honor,  all  that  it  is  and  has  of  pleasure, 
go  get  the  whole  world,  and  let  it  all  be  yours — ^what  shall 
it  profit  you  if  you  get  it  at  the  loss  of  your  soul?" 

Supreme  things  are  often  lost  by  inattention.  When  I 
was  spealcing  in  an  Eastern  city  a  little  while  ago,  in  a 
mission,  for  some  days,  they  told  me  of  the  going  away 
of  one  of  the  city's  mighty  financiers.  His  name  is  a 
household  word  in  this  country.  He  sent  for  one  of  the 
ministers,  and  when  the  minister  went  into  his  room  and 
sat  beside  him  and  took  his  hand,  the  minister  said  to 
him:  "What  would  you  say  to  me?"  And  he  said:  "Oh, 
man  of  God,  sing  to  me,  and  then  pray  for  me!"  "What 
shall  I  sing?"  inquired  the  minister.    "Sing  that  old  song: 

Come,  ye  sinners,  poor  and  needy. 

Weak  and  wretched,  sick  and  sore, 
Jesus  ready  stands  to  save  you, 

Full  of  pity,  love  and  power. 

Sing  me  that."    Mighty  financier  though  he  was,  his  money 
could  not  avail  him  in  that  testing  hour. 


308  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

There  is  a  little  plant  that  grows  in  a  certain  section 
of  the  world,  which  plant  is  called  the  Nardoo  plant.  The 
naturalist  tells  us  that  the  plant  is  delicious  to  the  taste. 
Men  and  women  may  eat  it  and  delight  in  it.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly palatable  to  the  taste.  And  yet,  though  they  may  eat 
and  eat  and  eat  of  that  plant,  and  rejoice  in  it  like  they 
would  rejoice  in  the  eating  of  some  delicious  berry,  it  is 
utterly  impotent  to  suffice  for  hunger,  for  they  tell  us  that 
it  possesses  no  nutriment  at  all  for  the  blood,  and  they  tell 
us  that  we  can  eat  of  it,  and  eat  of  it,  and  yet  die  from 
starvation,  even  while  we  enjoy  the  eating  of  that  delicious 
plant.  That  is  a  parable  and  picture  of  human  life.  Go, 
if  you  will,  and  drink  from  every  spring,  go  and  sip  the 
aroma  from  every  flower,  go  and  run  the  whole  gamut  of 
human  experience,  and  still  will  it  be  true: 

This  world  can  never  give 

The  bliss  for  which  we  sigh. 
*Tis   not   the   whole  of  life  to  live, 

Nor  all   of  death  to  die. 

Just  because  God  hath  set  eternity  in  the  human  heart, 
nothing  temporal,  therefore,  can  satisfy  and  fortify  the 
human  spirit. 

Now,  this  man  of  our  text  found  all  this  out,  and  then 
he  turned  away  from  it  all,  saying,  in  the  language  of  our 
text:  "And  now.  Lord,  what  wait  I  for?  My  hope  is  in 
thee."  And  that  suggests  for  us  the  personal  theme  that 
I  am  to  press  upon  you  these  passing  minutes:  Why  do 
you  wait  to  be  for  the  Lord?  Why  are  you  not  a  Chris- 
tian? I  wish  I  knew.  If  I  knew  why  that  man  there,  or 
that  woman,  or  that  child,  was  not  a  Christian,  I  should 
come  right  to  that  excuse,  and  seek  to  bring  to  bear  the 
Word  of  God  right  at  that  point,  to  counsel  you  and  help 
you. 

Let  me  surmise  the  different  things  that  keep  people 
waiting  and  away  from  Christ.  Let  me  give  several  con- 
jectures, and  if  I  do  not  give  the  right  conjecture  in  your 
case,  yet  I  pray  you  to  face  the  truth,  the  principle  that 
shall  be  discussed,  and  put  to  your  heart  the  piercing  ques- 
tion: Why  am  I  not  a  Christian?  Let  me  ask  you,  first, 
is  it  this:  Do  you  say:  "I  am  not  a  Christian  because  I 
do  not  need  to  be  ?"    Is  there  one  in  all  this  vast  concourse 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        309 

of  people  to-night  who  would  say:  "I  am  not  a  Christian 
because  I  do  not  need  to  be?"  Is  there  one  that  would 
make  such  claim  as  that?  I  do  not  think  so.  I  think  I 
need  not  pause  at  that  point.  I  think  not  one  in  all  this 
place  would  make  such  plea,  in  the  face  of  the  Bible,  which 
says  that  every  rational  being  needs  God,  needs  His  guid- 
ance and  forgiveness  and  help.  This  Book  tells  us  that 
no  human  being  has  moral  resources  within  himself  or 
herself  sufficient  to  live  the  life  he  or  she  ought  to  live, 
and  to  meet  the  destiny  out  yonder  that  awaits  us.  And 
then  you  would  not  fly  in  the  face  of  Christ,  the  Light 
of  the  world,  who  came  among  men  and  told  us  all ;  "You 
must  be  born  again — every  rational  human  being  —  you 
must  be  born  again,  born  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  born  from 
above,  or  you  cannot  even  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  I 
do  not  believe,  therefore,  that  I  have  a  single  man  or 
woman  here  to-night,  who  would  say:  "I  scout  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible  and  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  I  say  I  do 
not  need  to  be  a  Christian  at  all."  Oh,  no,  not  one  in  this 
presence  will  say  that.  And  so  I  leave  that  to  pass  to 
another  conjecture. 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  answer:  "Sir, 
I  am  not  one  because  I  cannot  believe?"  Now,  let  us 
pause  right  there,  and  let  me  ask  you,  when  you  say  you 
cannot  believe:  What  is  it  you  cannot  believe?  Who  is 
it  that  you  cannot  believe?  There  are  two  pungent  ques- 
tions, that  all  rational  men  and  women  must  confront. 
Here  they  are:  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  That  is  the 
first  one.  And  then  the  other  one  is:  "What  shall  I  do 
with  Jesus,  who  is  called  Christ?"  We  are  every  one 
called  to  think  upon  Christ.  Who  is  He?  Where  did  He 
come  from?  What  did  He  come  for?  What  did  He  do 
for  men?  What  does  He  propose  to  do?  What  can  He 
do?  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  And  then  that  other  big 
question  —  inescapable,  inexorable,  inevitable  question: 
"What  shall  I  do  with  Christ?"  Now,  we  must  face  those 
questions.  So  I  ask  you,  what  is  there  about  Christ  that 
troubles  you?  Here  is  a  great  personality  that  crosses 
every  one  of  your  paths.  You  must  vote  for  Him  or  vote 
against  Him.    You  must  accept  Him  or  reject  Him.    You 


310  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

must  crown  Him  morally  in  your  heart,  or  you  must  mor- 
ally crucify  Him.  You  must  be  for  Him  or  against  Him. 
You  must  be  His  friend  or  foe.  Now,  which  ought  it  to 
be?  Which  is  sane  and  reasonable,  as  you  face  that  in- 
escapable alternative?  And  I  beg  you  to  remember,  as 
you  face  it,  that  the  wisest  and  best  of  earth  have  followed 
Christ.  The  most  remarkable  testimony  that  I  have  heard 
given  to  Christ  Jesus  in  a  long  time  was  given  by  our  na- 
tion's chief  executive,  Woodrow  Wilson,  to-night  the  first 
citizen  in  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  greatest  tribute 
that  I  have  heard  paid  to  simple  faith  in  Christ,  in  years 
and  years,  I  heard  him  give  a  little  while  ago,  as  he  stood 
before  a  group  of  some  two  thousand  of  the  nation's 
thoughtful  men.  "Oh,  men,  my  brothers,"  the  greatly- 
gifted  President  said,  in  effect,  "long  ago  I  stayed  my  ail 
on  Christ,  and  I  could  not  get  on  without  Him  and  His 
Book,  and  I  would  not  be  willing  to  try."  The  wisest  and 
the  keenest  and  the  strongest  of  earth  have  tried  Jesus, 
and  they  have  found  out  that  He  helps.  They  have  found 
out  that  He  saves.  They  have  found  out  that  He  re- 
enforces.  And  not  only  the  great  and  strong  and  intel- 
lectual and  keen-minded  have  thus  tried  Jesus  and  found 
Him  true,  but  those  modest  ones  who  are  near  and  dear 
to  you  and  me.  A  little  mother,  who  prays,  never  heard 
of  outside  of  her  village  or  community,  maybe,  but  to 
you  the  sweetest  and  dearest  life  that  earth  ever  had,  tells 
her  child,  or  the  little  wife  tells  her  husband,  how  dear 
Christ  is  to  those  who  receive  Him  as  a  personal  Savior. 

I  was  summoned  to  a  dinner  in  a  beautiful  home  some 
time  ago,  when  the  home  was  just  opened,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  I  have  seen,  and  I  said  to  the  wife  and 
mother  in  that  home:  "How  happy  you  must  be  in  such 
a  home!"  And  she  said:  "Quite  true,  sir,"  and  then  she 
went  on  to  say:  "But,  oh,  sir,  I  would  be  gladly  willing 
to  live  on  bread  and  water,  if  only  my  husband  would 
come  with  me  and  be  for  Christ,  and  walk  beside  me,  and 
help  me  by  his  example  and  precept  to  bring  the  children 
in  the  heavenly  way."  Those  that  are  nearest  and  dearest 
of  all  to  you,  come  to  you  and  tell  you  that  Christ  helps 
them,  and  we  know  it  is  true.     So  you  will  not  be  afraid 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        311 

to  venture  your  all  on  Christ.    He  is  tested,  experimental- 
ly; He  is  tried,  experimentally,  and  we  find  Him  true. 

I  have  heard  Booth  Tucker  give  his  testimony  to  the 
power  of  God's  grace.  He  was  and  is  a  mighty  man  of 
God,  as  was  his  heroic  father-in-law.  General  Booth,  both 
working  with  the  people  down  in  the  trenches  of  life,  with 
the  people  who  are  down  to  hard  pan.  I  have  been  glad 
to  stand  beside  them  both,  for  the  saving  of  the  very  poor 
in  one  of  onr  cities.  I  think  nothing  of  that  spirit  that 
seeks  to  make  class  distinctions,  either  in  the  realm  o| 
church  or  of  state.  I  think  nothing  of  that  cheap  and 
demagogic  cry  that  would  make  such  class  distinctions. 
It  is  a  piece  of  cheap  and  wicked  demagogism  for  which 
right-thinking  men  will  have  no  respect.  The  right-think- 
ing man  is  as  much  concerned  for  the  best  welfare  of  the 
man  in  the  deepest  depths  of  sin  and  poverty  and  squalor 
and  wretchedness,  as  he  is  for  the  President  of  our  whole, 
vast  country.  I  heard  Booth  Tucker  say  that  he  preached 
in  Chicago,  one  day,  and  out  from  the  throng  a  burdened 
toiler  came  and  said  to  him,  before  all  the  audience :  "Booth 
Tucker,  you  can  talk  like  that  about  how  Christ  is  dear 
to  you,  and  helps  you;  but  if  your  wife  was  dead,  as  is 
my  wife,  and  you  had  some  babies  crying  for  their  mother 
who  would  never  come  back,  you  could  not  say  what  you 
are  saying,'*  I  was  with  Booth  Tucker,  as  I  have  indi- 
cated to  you,  and  just  a  few  days  after  our  separation,  he 
lost  his  beautiful  and  nobly-gifted  wife  in  a  railway  wreck, 
and  the  body  was  brought  to  Chicago,  where  Booth  Tucker 
had  thus  preached,  and  where  the  toiling  man  had  stood 
up  and  said:  "You  could  not  say  that,  if  you  were  in  my 
condition."  The  body  was  brought  to  Chicago  and  carried 
to  the  Salvation  Army  barracks.  I  pause  to  say  that  when 
I  think  of  such  valiant  workers,  I  want  to  stand  with  my 
head  uncovered,  when  I  see  how  bravely  they  are  toiling 
to  make  better  the  world.  And  great  old  General  Booth! 
I  always  wanted  to  stand  in  his  presence  with  my  head 
uncovered,  because  he  so  nobly  served  humanity.  The 
body  of  Booth  Tucker's  wife,  as  I  have  just  said,  was 
brought  to  Chicago,  and  was  carried  to  the  Salvation  Army 
barracks,  for  the  funeral  service.     That  same  toiling  man 


312  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

was  present,  who  some  days  before  had  said  what  I  have 
told  you.  And  there  was  the  casket  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Salvation  Army  people  of  Chicago,  and  Booth  Tucker  at 
last  stood  up,  after  others  had  conducted  the  funeral  serv- 
ice, and  he  stood  there  by  the  casket,  and  looked  down 
into  the  face  of  the  silent  wife  and  mother,  and  said :  "The 
other  day  when  I  was  here,  a  man  said  I  could  not  say 
Garist  was  sufficient,  if  my  wife  were  dead,  and  my  chil- 
dren were  crying  for  their  mother.  If  that  man  is  here, 
I  tell  him  that  Christ  is  sufficient  My  heart  is  all  crushed. 
My  heart  is  all  bleeding.  My  heart  is  all  broken.  But 
there  is  a  song  in  my  heart,  and  Christ  put  it  there,  and 
if  that  man  is  here,  I  tell  him  that,  though  my  wife  is  gone 
and  my  children  are  motherless,  Christ  speaks  comfort  to 
me  to-day."  That  man  was  there,  and  down  the  aisle  he 
came,  and  fell  down  beside  the  casket,  and  said:  "Verily, 
if  Christ  can  help  us  like  that,  I  will  surrender  to  Him," 
and  he  was  saved. 

Oh,  my  brother  men,  Jesus  can  be  tested !  If  you  ask 
me  if  I  have  tested  Him,  God  help  me,  I  tell  you  yes. 
Better  than  I  know  anything  in  the  wide  world  do  I  know 
that  Christ  helps  men^  for  when  I  was  on  life's  wild  sea, 
without  chart  or  compass  or  guide  or  rudder,  and  no  hu- 
man voice  could  suffice  me,  and  the  storm  drove  hither 
and  thither  my  little  bark,  Christ  said:  "Come  to  me, 
man,  and  give  your  case  to  me,  and  I  will  help  you,  and 
you  shall  know  it."  I  found  it  was  so.  You  can  try  Him 
and  prove  Him,  for  yourself.    Oh,  try  Him  to-day ! 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  say:  "I  am  not 
a  Christian  because  I  have  too  much  to  give  up?"  Pray, 
tell  me  now,  what  have  you  to  give  up?  Jesus,  my  Savior, 
and  your  offered  Savior,  does  not  want  you  to  give  up 
anything  except  that  which  is  wrong,  except  that  which 
hurts  you,  except  that  which  poisons  you,  except  that 
which,  if  you  do  not  repent  of  it,  shall  kill  you.  Jesus 
wants  you  to  give  up  only  that  which  is  wrong  and  blight- 
ing and  deadly — Just  that.  Suppose  a  man  had  two  stores, 
and  one  of  those  stores  was  a  tiny  confectionery  store, 
worth  one  hundred  dollars,  and  the  other  store  was  a  vast 
department  store,  worth  a  million  dollars ;  and  suppose  the 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        313 

man  devoted  nearly  all  of  his  time  and  thought  to  that  little 
one-hundred-dollar  store,  and  gave  practically  no  time  nor 
thought  to  that  million-dollar  store.  You  would  say :  "Why, 
that  is  unspeakable."  And  yet,  oh,  soul,  Jesus  comes  to  you 
down  here  in  this  little  space  called  time — thirty  years,  may- 
be, or  twenty-five,  or  forty,  or  sixty,  or  mayhap  seventy, 
but  not  many  of  us  will  live  that  long — ^very  few  of  us  will 
reach  that  period — ^Jesus  comes  to  us,  saying:  "Don't  put 
all  your  thought  on  that  little  tiny  store.  Give  the  great 
store  the  best  attention.  You  are  made  to  live  forever. 
Out  yonder,  beyond  time  and  the  grave,  is  a  conscious 
world  forever.  Build  for  that,  as  well  as  think  wisely  for 
this  brief  space  here  and  now." 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  say:  "I  am  not 
a  Christian  because  I  am  waiting  until  I  get  good  enough 
to  become  one  ?"  Where,  pray,  v>/^ill  you  get  your  goodness  ? 
If  you  may  get  your  goodness  by  your  own  doings,  then 
Jesus  need  not  have  come,  nor  would  He  have  come. 
Where,  pray,  will  you  get  your  goodness?  Jesus  did  not 
come  to  save  good  people.  He  himself  tells  us:  "I  came 
not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners,  to  repentance."  Thank 
God!  If  you  are  a  sinner,  you  are  eligible  to  be  saved. 
They  are  now  daily  asking  who  is  eligible  for  our  country's 
arms.  If  you  are  a  sinner,  thank  God,  you  are  eligible  to 
be  saved,  for  Jesus  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  You 
cannot  save  yourself.  You  cannot  work  up  your  own  good- 
ness. You  must  be  born  again,  and  by  the  power  of  God, 
and  so  your  waiting,  pleading  that  you  are  waiting  until 
you  get  good  enough  to  come,  is  utterly  specious  and  futile 
and  ruinous. 

Do  you  say :  "Well,  that  is  not  it,"  as  I  ask  you,  Why 
are  you  not  a  Christian?  But  do  you  say:  "I  am  waiting 
until  I  get  strength  to  live  the  Christian  life  ?"  Then  I  will 
pass  the  question  to  you  and  ask  you,  Where  will  you  get 
that  strength?  Jesus  not  only  saves  us,  but  He  helps  us 
after  He  does  save  us.  Paul,  that  chief  apostle,  said:  "I 
know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  He  ia 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him  against 
that  day."  Paul  did  not  say  that  he  himself  was  able  to 
keep  himself — never  once.    Paul  said :  "By  the  grace  of  God 


314  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

I  am  what  I  am."  He  said:  "By  grace  are  ye  saved, 
through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves — it  is  the  gift  of 
God;  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should  boast."  Jesus 
himself  says :  "You  surrender  to  me  and  I  will  forgive  and 
save  you.  And  then  I  will  company  with  you.  I  will  teach 
you.  I  will  guide  you.  I  will  fortify  you.  I  will  empower 
you.  I  will  strengthen  and  keep  you."  That  is  living  the 
Christian  life.  Jesus  not  only  starts  with  us,  but  He  com- 
panies with  us  also  as  we  go  on  the  journey.  Oh,  I  would 
not  risk  my  getting  to  heaven  on  the  best  five  minutes  or 
five  seconds  that  I  ever  lived  in  my  own  goodness  and 
strength.    No,  no.    My  hope  is  in  a  surer  place  than  that. 

My  hope  is  built  on  nothing  less 
Than  Jesus'  blood  and  righteousness. 
I  dare  not  trust  the  sweetest  frame. 
But  wholly  lean   on  Jesus'   name. 
On   Christ  the   Solid  Rock,   I   stand; 
All  other  ground  is  sinking  sand. 

I  do  not  risk  my  salvation  in  the  church,  or  in  beautiful 
baptism,  or  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  in  all  the  impressive 
forms  of  religion.  They  all  cannot  save  one  soul.  Christ 
must  save.  Oh,  you  must  give  up  to  Him !  Won't  you  do 
that  before  it  is  too  late? 

I  come  to  ask  you  again.  Why  are  you  not  a  Christian? 
Do  you  answer  me:  "I  am  not  a  Christian  because  I  look 
around  me  and  see  professed  Christians,  and  their  lives  are 
faulty  and  ragged  and  defective,  and  I  will  therefore  pass 
it  by?"  What  shall  I  say  about  that?  Is  it  true  that  our 
lives  are  ragged  and  defective  and  faulty?  God  forgive  us, 
yes.  I  do  not  know  any  perfect  people.  O  man,  we  do 
not  plead  ourselves.  We  plead  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  He 
is  the  world's  hope,  and  He  is  its  righteousness.  And  now, 
come.  When  you  have  pleaded  weakness  in  the  Christians 
round  you,  and  faultiness  and  defects  and  raggedness,  Jesus 
looks  at  you,  saying:  "What  has  that  got  to  do  with  your 
soul,  and  what  has  that  got  to  do  with  your  personal 
responsibility  tome?"  Jesus  says  to  you :  "Therefore,  thou 
art  inexcusable,  oh,  man,  whosoever  thou  art  that  judgest  ; 
for  wherein  thou  judgest  another,  thou  condemnest  thy- 
self." You  have  made  your  case  worse.  Come  away,  I  pray 
you,  from  that  faulty  excuse. 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        315 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  answer  me: 
"Sir,  I  am  not  a  Christian  because  I  am  waiting  for  the 
right  kind  of  feeling?"  Pray  tell  me,  what  do  you  know 
about  the  right  kind  of  feeling  in  the  matter  of  the  Chris- 
tian life?  Can't  you  leave  that  with  Christ?  May  I  tell  you 
that  I  prayed  for  feeling  for  many  a  long  day,  and  at  last, 
calm  as  I  am  right  now,  and  calm  as  you  are  now,  as  you 
listen  to  the  preacher  to-night  with  such  interest  and  defer- 
ence, I  said:  "Lord,  with  or  without  feeling,  come  what 
may,  I  will  surrender  myself,  for  time  and  eternity,  this 
very  minute,  to  Christ."  He  took  care  of  the  feeling  after- 
ward. That  is  His  part.  Never  one  time  does  He  say  to 
you:  "If  you  feel  so  and  so,  you  shall  be  saved."  Never 
once.  But  He  says :  "If  you  will  believe  on  Christ,  He  will 
save  you."  He  will  save  you  whatever  your  feelings.  He 
will  save  you  in  spite  of  your  feelings.  He  will  save  you 
and  give  you  the  feelings  you  ought  to  have — the  feelings 
He  wants  you  to  have.  You  are  to  trust  Him,  and  He  is  to 
save  you.    Isn't  it  plain? 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  say:  "I  have 
waited  because  I  could  not  see  through  it,  I  could  not  under- 
stand it?"  I  pray  you,  come  away  from  that,  for  you  never 
can  understand  it — never.  No  man  is  wise  enough  to  phi- 
losophize through  the  mystery  of  what  it  is  to  be  born  again.. 
Why,  you  cannot  even  understand  a  great  human  life.  A 
great  human  life  has  about  him  mystery,  and  the  more  you 
see  him  the  more  mysterious  and  wonderful  he  is.  You 
cannot  understand  the  mystery  of  a  little,  laughing  baby's 
life.  There  is  mystery  in  all  life,  clear  above  your  compre- 
hension. That  strong  man,  Nicodemus,  came  to  Jesus,  and 
Jesus  told  him:  "You  must  be  born  again."  He  said: 
"How  can  I  be  born  again?"  And  Jesus  said:  "The  how 
belongs  to  God.  Yours  it  is  to  trust  Christ."  Jesus  said: 
"The  wind  bloweth  where  it  pleaseth,  and  thou  hearest  the 
sound  thereof,  but  thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  nor 
whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit 
of  God."  Yours  it  is  to  trust,  and  His  it  is  to  save.  There 
are  mysteries  in  coming  to  Christ,  but  ten  thousand  times 
greater  if  we  reject  Him  and  go  into  the  darkness.    When 


316  A  QUEST  l^OR  SOULS 

Frohman  was  going  down  with  the  Titanic  he  called  it  "the 
Great  Adventure." 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  Do  you  say:  "Well,  I 
am  waiting  for  somebody  else  to  go  first?"  Oh,  we  are  back 
again  to  daily,  human,  personal,  responsible  influence.  Wife, 
art  thou  here  this  evening  without  Christ?  If  I  were  in  your 
place,  I  would  come,  if  necessary,  through  flame  and  flood. 
I  would  not  wait  for  that  strong  man  who  holds  back.  Who 
knows  but  that  thou  must  by  thine  own  example  win  Him 
to  Christ  ?  I  would  come,  oh,  friend,  I  would  come !  Who 
knows  but  that  sheltering  behind  you  is  somebody  that 
will  act  when  you  act? 

I  was  preaching  in  a  distant  city  some  time  ago,  and  one 
night  I  made  a  call  like  this,  at  the  close  of  the  sermon :  "I 
wish  all  the  men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls  who  wish 
to  be  Christians,  would  walk  down  to  these  three  front 
pews,  while  the  people  sing,  and  then  when  they  have  thus 
come  forward,  I  have  two  or  three  things  to  say  to  them  in 
two  or  three  or  four  minutes,  before  w^e  pray."  Numbers 
came  to  those  pews,  quietly  and  thoughtfully.  Our  appeal 
should  always  be  to  men's  judgment  and  conscience. 
Christ's  religion  does  not  need  any  other  kind  of  an  appeal. 
They  came,  and  I  noticed  in  the  group,  a  girl  of  some 
fourteen  or  fifteen  yeai^,  beautiful,  and  deeply  serious.  She 
kept  looking  back,  oh,  so  pitifully  she  kept  looking  back. 
She  had  come  away  from  the  side  of  a  man,  who,  as  we 
learned  later,  was  her  father.  She  kept  looking  back,  and  I 
said:  "I  think  now  that  we  are  ready  in  one  moment  to 
pray.  I  will  wait  just  one  moment,  to  see  if  somebody 
else  won't  come,  before  we  pray,  and  sit  on  these  pews 
with  us,  thereby  saying:  'I  want  to  be  a  Christian/"  And 
this  girl  could  wait  no  longer,  and  she  went  back  down 
the  aisle  and  sat  down  beside  him,  where  she  left  him  some 
minutes  ago.  I  waited.  It  was  all  rather  striking.  I  waited 
to  see  the  outcome,  not  knowing  what  it  meant,  but  they 
told  me  later  what  it  meant.  She  put  her  arms  about  her 
father's  neck,  and  one  sitting  just  behind  them,  heard  hei 
say:  "Papa,  you  and  I  told  mother  we  would  meet  her  in 
the  better  world,  when  she  left  us  last  year,  and  I  want  to 
keep  the  promise.    I  want  us  to  settle  it,  papa.    I  went 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        317 

forward  that  they  might  pray  for  me.  I  thought  you  would 
come.  I  want  us  to  settle  it  to-night.  Oh,  papa,  I  want  us 
to  keep  our  promise  to  mother,  but  I  could  not  stay  down 
there  without  you.  I  have  stayed  with  you  since  mother 
died,  and  we  have  been  together.  I  have  never  left  you 
except  when  I  had  to,  papa.  I  cannot  now  go  without  you. 
I  want  to  surrender  to  Christ  to-night,  but  I  cannot  go 
without  you,  and  I  have  come  back  to  ask  you  if  you  won't 
go  with  me,  and  kneel  down  with  me,  and  with  me  sur- 
render to  Christ?''  And  the  strong,  big,  trembling  man — 
and  it  turned  out  that  he  was  one  of  the  judges  of  one  of 
the  high  courts  of  his  state — said:  "Little  girl,  papa  will 
go  with  you.  You  are  right."  And  together  they  came,  and 
knelt  together,  and  when  the  prayer  was  over,  and  I  said: 
"Who  has  said  yes  to  Christ?"  he  stretched  out  his  hand 
and  said :  "I  have."  And  the  little  girl  said :  "So  have  I, 
papa!"  and  she  kissed  him  again  and  again.  What  if  he 
had  not  come?  Oh,  soul,  wait  not  for  somebody  else,  be- 
cause somebody  else  may  be  influenced  by  you! 

Why  are  you  not  a  Christian?  I  think  you  sum  it  up, 
some  of  you — ofttimes  men  sum  it  up  and  say:  "Well,  I 
am  not  a  Christian,  but  I  tell  you,  sir,  I  expect  to  be  by  and 
by.  I  intend  to  be  to-morrow.  I  will  be  a  little  later."  I 
suppose  that  is  the  excuse  oftenest  given  by  the  human 
heart  for  not  being  on  Christ's  side.  Men  will  grant  their 
duty,  and  their  need,  and  their  danger,  and  men  will  confess 
their  interest  and  their  desire.  Men  will  go  on  and  declare 
their  purpose  some  time  to  stop  and  surrender  to  Christ, 
but  then  they  wait.  They  listen  to  a  subtle  voice :  "A  little 
later,  by  and  by,  to-morrow,  not  yet,"  and  Satan's  work  is 
done,  and  the  soul  is  enamored  of  the  deceitful  way  and 
goes  down  to  destruction  and  doom  and  loss. 

That  old-time  ruler  of  Thebes,  whose  name  was  Archias, 
jbne  night  was  going  to  a  house  of  feasting  and  revelry,  and 
one  of  his  trusted  servants  intercepted  him  on  the  road, 
and  thrust  into  his  hands  a  note,  and  said  to  him:  "Oh, 
Prince,  do  not  go  to  that  place — do  not  go."  The  servant 
said:  "Serious  matters  await  you,  if  you  go.  That  note 
explains  it.    Read  it.    Do  not  go."   And  the  prince  said,  as 


318  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

he  thrust  the  note  into  his  pocket:  "Serious  matters  to- 
morrow, but  none  to-night.  Feasting  to-night,  revelry 
to-night,  music  to-night,  laughter  to-night,  a  good  time 
to-night.  Serious  matters  to-morrow !"  And  he  refused  to 
read  the  note.  Oh,  if  he  had  only  read  the  note !  The  note, 
penned  by  the  faithful  servant,  told  him  of  a  plot  that  very 
night  to  take  his  life,  but  because  he  ignored  the  warning 
he  went  right  into  the  trap,  and  that  night  his  life  was 
taken  away. 

My  fellow  sinner — and  you  are  such,  for  I  am  a  sinner 
saved  by  grace — my  fellow  sinner,  let  not  Satan  cheat  you 
and  beguile  you  and  trick  you  at  that  point,  that  you  have 
time  enough.  When  all  is  at  stake,  your  soul  at  stake,  your 
life  at  stake,  your  influence  at  stake,  your  happiness  at 
stake,  your  usefulness  at  stake,  your  deep  joy  at  stake, 
surely  you  have  not  time  enough. 

Now,  this  man  of  our  text  faced  it,  an3  turned  away 
and  said:  *1  have  not  time  enough."  And  then  what  did 
he  say?  He  said  what  I  am  coming  to  ask  you  to  say.  He 
said:  "Lord,  what  do  I  keep  up  this  waiting  for?"  And 
then  he  turned  face  about  and  said :  "Lord,  my  hope  from 
this  hour  shall  forever  be  in  thee."  That  is  the  prayer  I 
pray  for  you.  That  is  the  exhortation  I  press  upon  you. 
"Lord,  what  do  I  wait  for?  I  desist  from  it.  My  hope 
from  this  Friday  night  shall  be  in  the  Lord."  Mark  now 
his  hope ;  mark  where  it  was :  "My  hope  shall  be,  oh.  Lord, 
in  thee."  Oh,  I  pray  you,  my  fellow-men,  do  not  be  be- 
guiled at  this  vital  point.  Salvation  is  by  a  person,  and 
that  person  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Salvation  is  not  by  a 
church,  not  by  an  ordinance,  not  by  a  sacrament,  not  by  a 
ceremony,  not  by  a  creed,  not  even  by  the  Bible.  The  Bible 
is  just  the  signboard  saying  to  us:  "This  is  the  way."  Sal- 
vation is  by  Christ,  and  by  none  other.  "Neither  is  there 
salvation  in  any  other :  for  there  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
Jesus  himself  calls  to  us,  saying :  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth 
and  the  life.  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me." 
Jesus  calls  to  us,  saying:  "I  am  the  door.  By  me  if  any 
man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved,  but  he  that  climbeth  up 
some  other  way  is  a  thief  and  a  robber."    Salvation  is  by 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        319 

Christ,  the  person,  and  you  are  to  just  surrender  to  Him, 
that  He  may,  by  your  choice,  become  your  Savior. 

Oh,  I  come  to  ask  if  you  won't,  like  this  man  of  our 
text,  put  away  your  waiting,  and  say :  "I  am  coming  right 
now  to  Him.  Parent  as  I  am,  God  help  me,  I  am  coming 
now,  for  my  own  sake  and  my  family's."  Business  men, 
or  toiling  men,  or  professional  men,  whoever  the  man  or 
woman  or  child  may  be,  not  a  Christian,  I  am  coming  to 
press  upon  you  the  appeal:  Won't  you  do  as  did  this 
man  in  the  text?  Won't  you  say:  "Lord,  I  stop  my  wait- 
ing; I  am  coming  to  thee?"  What  if  you  should  not  come? 
What  if  you  should  wait  one  day,  one  hour,  one  second,  too 
long,  too  late,  to  come?  What  if  you  should  refuse  and 
defer  one  second  too  much  to  come?  Oh,  I  am  asking  if 
you  won't  be  done  with  your  waiting  now  and  come? 

What  arguments  shall  I  marshal  to  help  you?  What 
motives  shall  I  summon  for  you  to  consider?  I  pray  you, 
think  of  your  duty,  and  think  of  your  need,  and  think  of  your 
danger,  and  think  of  your  influence,  and  think  of  your  hap- 
piness, and  think  of  your  usefulness.  Great  arguments, 
mighty  motives,  ought  to  have  a  large  place  in  human 
thought  and  action,  and  by  them  all  I  am  praying  you  to 
end  your  waiting.  Many  come  up  to  this  point  and  take 
all  but  this  last  step.  They  feel.  They  see.  They  hear. 
They  know.  They  concede.  They  desire.  They  say: 
"Yes,  that  is  right.  A  little  later  I  will  yield."  They  wait 
a  little  later.  They  come  right  up  to  heaven's  gate^  and 
they  turn  away  unsaved. 

Yonder  in  the  Northwest  a  young  couple  went  to  build 
their  fortune,  and  they  went  out  several  miles  from  the 
village  and  took  up  land,  and  there  had  their  little  cottage, 
and  began  their  work.  One  morning  the  young  husband 
went  away  to  the  village  to  get  supplies  for  the  little  home. 
He  was  to  return  that  evening,  but  after  he  had  been  gone 
some  time,  the  snow  began  to  fall,  and  it  fell  thick  and 
fast  and  piled  up  deeper  and  deeper.  The  day  died  down  to 
night,  and  he  had  not  returned,  and  the  little  wife's  heart 
was  in  her  throat,  so  anxious  was  she;  and  all  night  long 
she  stood  there  in  the  cabin  door,  and  swung  the  lantern, 
if  haplv  he  came  within  its  radius  of  light  he  might  be 


320  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

pointed  the  way  home.  Several  feet  of  snow  had  fallen, 
and  the  morning  came.  The  night  was  past,  and  he  had 
not  come,  and  with  a  very  agony  of  anxiety  she  started 
toward  the  village.  Though  the  snow  was  some  three  or 
four  feet  deep,  she  started  through  it,  and  down  yonder, 
just  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  little  cottage,  she  stum- 
bled on  his  body,  the  body  of  her  own  husband,  frozen  and 
told.  Back  he  had  come,  in  sight  of  his  own  cabin — ^and 
was  dead  in  sight  of  home ! 

Oh  soul,  that  is  a  picture  of  what  sometimes  happens  in 
gospel  meetings.  Men  and  women  and  children  come  and 
hear  and  feel  and  desire,  but  wait,  through  Satan's  entice- 
ment. They  come  within  sight  of  home  and  heaven  and 
eternal  life,  and  wait  too  long.  End  your  waiting,  I  pray 
you,  and  come  this  night,  and  make  your  surrender  to 
Christ,  this  very  night  and  this  very  hour.  He  does  the 
saving,  but  you  are  to  consent,  you  are  to  decide.  Your  dif- 
ficulties, your  sins,  your  doubts,  your  temptations,  do  you 
say  they  are  terrible?  Make  them  a  million  times  worse  in 
fancy,  than  they  really  are,  and  yet  I  tell  you  that  Christ 
will  save  you  in  one  second,  if  you  will  honestly  surrender 
your  case  to  Him. 

To-night  will  you  make  that  surrender?  These  hun- 
dreds of  Christian  men  and  women  want  you  to  make  that 
surrender  to  Christ,  and  they  will  join  me  in  prayer  for 
God  to  guide  and  help  you.  I  will  show  you  that  they  wish 
it.  Every  Christian  in  this  presence  who  takes  up  the 
preacher's  appeal,  and  would  bind  it  on  the  hearts  of  all 
these  that  are  wrong  with  God;  and,  further,  every  Chris- 
tian that  will  join  the  preacher  in  a  prayer  for  these  that 
are  waiting  and  staying  away  from  God,  in  a  prayer  that 
they  will  stop  their  waiting  and  come  in  time ;  every  Chris- 
tian that  says :  *'That  is  my  wish.  That  is  my  heart.  That 
shall  be  my  prayer,"  will  lift  high  the  hand.  Do  you  not 
see?  I  think  it  is  a  sight  to  stir  the  angels'  hearts.  That 
is  sufficient.  Come,  now,  tell  me,  every  soul  that  says :  'T 
want  to  be  right  with  God,  in  God's  own  time  and  way." 
I  will  not  ask  you  to  lift  your  hand,  for  many  did  last  night 
I  will  ask  you,  if  you  are  ready  right  now,  to  come  to  me. 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        321 

and  say :  "My  waiting  is  done."   Let  every  head  b*  bow«a, 
while  we  pray  God  to  guide  us. 

THE   CLOSING  PRAYBR. 

Great  is  our  joy,  O  thou  great  Savior,  that  so  many  in  this  great  press  are 
friends  of  Christ  and  His  followers.  We  would  come  now  to  thee  with  just  one 
nr^ver  It  is  that  every  one  who  is  improperly  waiting,  who  is  away  from  God, 
away  from  right,  away  from  duty,  away  from  safety,  away  from  the  right  use  of 
frTfluence  and  the  right  expenditure  of  life,  man,  woman  or  child,  may  now  end 
Jhe  waiting,  and  come  to  Christ;  that  the  duty-neglecting  Christian  may  say: 
'•I  have  neglected  duty  long  enough.  I  will  renew  my  vows  this  mght  with 
Christ-"  that  the  backslidden  Christian  may  say:  "I  will  renew  my  vows.  I  will 
come  back  to  the  Lord.  I  will  come  back  before  the  people.  I  have  wandered 
before  them,  and  they  may  know  about  it,  but  whether  they  kno%v  or  not.  God 
knows  it  all,  and  I  will  come  back,  and  renew  my  vows  to-night  with  Him.  to- 
night I  will  re-surrender  my  poor  self  to  the  forgiving  Savior.  >>".  ^e  pray 
for  such  And  we  pray  for  the  men  and  for  the  women,  the  parents,  the  young 
men  or  women,  the  boys  or  girls,  who  are  waiting,  and  the  soul  is  more  endan- 
gered every  minute,  and  Satan  gets  in  his  work  more  terribly  every  minute.  Oh, 
we  pray  that  the  one  here  waiting  to-night  shall  say:  "I  stop  now.  Since  Jesus 
saves,  since  He  does  it  all,  and  since  He  bids  me  not  wait  until  to-morrow  since 
He  tells  me,  *To-day  is  the  day  of  salvation,'  since  He  tells  me  if  I  will  just 
commit  my  case  to  Him,  no  matter  what  the  case  is,  no  matter  how  bad,  how 
perplexing,  no  matter  how  doubting,  how  fearing,  how  puzzled,  how  sinful,  how 
tempted,  if  I  will  just  turn  my  case  over  to  Him,  He,  the  great  Soul  Physician, 
will  do  for  me  what  He  knows  needs  to  be  done,  I  will  trust  Him  now  I  will 
make  my  surrender  to  Him  now.  I  will  end  my  waiting.  Lord  Jesus,  and  1  wHI 
surrender  to  thee  right  now."  God  grant  it  by  the  power  of  His  grace  and 
Spirit.     For  Christ's  sake.    Amen. 

The  people  will  sing  that  simple  song:  "J^sus  Is  Call- 
ing." "Jesus  is  tenderly  calling  thee  home,  calling  to-day, 
calling  to-day."  Sing  that  song,  and  while  we  sing  it,  let 
every  one  tarry  these  closing  moments.  Now,  here  is  my 
hand,  and  with  it  goes  my  heart's  Godspeed  to  you  who  wish 
to  be  right  with  God.  I  implore  you  to  end  your  waiting. 
Does  the  backslidden  Christian  here,  and  the  duty-neglect- 
ing Christian,  say :  "I  have  had  enough  of  my  waiting,  and  I 
will  renew  my  vows  with  Christ  right  now,  this  Friday 
night."  Does  another  say:  "No,  that  is  not  my  case.  I 
am  a  disciple  of  Jesus  secretly,  and  never  made  it  known." 
Aren't  you  ready  now  to  say :  "To-night,  I  will  stop  my 
waiting,  and  be  openly  for  Christ.  I  will  to-night  announce 
that  I  have  already  surrendered  to  the  Savior."  Does  the 
man  or  woman  or  child  say,  "Not  yet  have  you  stated  my 
case,  but  this  is  my  case:  To-night,  I  am  ready,  I  am  will- 
ing, that  Christ  shall  be  my  Savior.  To-night,  I  decide  for 
Him.  To-night,  I  cease  my  delay,  to-night  I  end  my  wait- 
ing, to-night  I  surrender  to  Christ,  that  He  may  ^take  me 
and  do  for  me  what  He  knows  needs  to  be  done."  Come, 
take  my  hand.    The  chord  is  given  us,  and  we  will  sing. 

(The  first  and  second  stanzas  were  sung— while  numbers 
came  forward.) 


322  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Did  you  ever  before  see  the  sight  we  have  just  seen? 
I  never  saw  it  before,  where  a  son  brought  his  own  mother 
to  Christ.  Never  have  I  seen  that  sight  before — and  I  have 
seen  many  confess  Christ — where  a  young  man  came  with 
his  mother,  and  like  a  little  child  she  tells  us :  "I  will  sur- 
render to  Christ,  and  I  am  going  with  you" — brought  by 
her  own  son!  Oh,  you  mothers  who  are  not  on  Christ's 
side,  end  your  waiting  to-night,  and  come  with  the  boy  or 
without  him.  The  probability  is  that  you  will  have  to 
bring  the  boy  and  the  girl.  Was  there  ever  another  next 
to  the  Lord  so  helpful  to  a  human  soul,  as  is  a  mother? 
Oh,  ye  mothers,  wandering,  waiting,  in  wrong  positions, 
come  to-night  and  settle  it  with  your  surrender  to  Christ. 
And  ye  fathers  and  brothers,  men  of  affairs,  men  of  toil 
and  work,  what  you  need  above  all  else  is  Christ,  and  if 
you  should  have  all  else,  you  would  yet  be  utterly  poverty- 
stricken  without  Him.  And  the  boys  ought  to  come,  and 
the  girls,  even  others  who  are  here  to-night.  God's  breath 
from  heaven  is  over  you,  as  it  was  last  night  so  sensibly. 
Oh,  men  and  women  and  boys  and  girls,  as  they  continue  to 
sing,  I  pray  you  to  say :  "I  am  altogether  persuaded  to  be 
for  Christ."  Jesus  said  to  one  who  once  came  near  Him: 
''Thou  art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God" — not  far  from 
the  kingdom  of  God,  but  that  is  not  enough.  You  want  to 
be  in  His  kingdom.  To  be  near  is  not  enough.  Almost  is 
not  enough.  To  be  in  sight  is  not  enough.  Hard  by  the 
gate  is  not  enough.  To  be  interested  and  serious  and 
trembling,  and  desirous  is  not  enough.  Satan  does  not 
care  if  you  tremble  and  are  tearful  and  are  serious,  if  only 
3^ou  will  say:  "I  will  wait."  That  is  his  masterpiece  to 
destroy  you.  Do  you  say :  "I  will  not  linger  and  listen  to 
him.  I  will  not  farther  follow  Satan.  God  help  me,  I  will 
come  to-night,  and  I  will  stop  my  waiting,  and  I  will  give 
up  to  Jesus  Christ."    Come  then,  and  take  my  hand. 

(The  third  and  fourth  stanzas  were  sung  and  others 
came  forward.) 

You  may  go  in  a  few  moments.  I  Have  a  very  earnest 
word  to  say  to  these  Christians.  It  is  this:  Put  your 
utmost  of  prayer  and  personal  effort  into  these  two  waiting 
days,  to  the  end  that  God  may  save  multitudes  about  you. 


WHY  ARE  YOU  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN?        323 

Put  your  utmost  into  the  noonday  service  to-morrow  at 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  auditorium,  the  mass  meeting 
at  three-thirty  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  same  place,  and  the 
meeting  again  here  Sunday  night.  Oh,  what  need  for  pray- 
er !  You  will  pray  much,  I  trust,  by  groups  and  alone.  And 
then  what  need  that  you  shall  speak  to  the  people  who  are 
without  God,  trying  to  help  them.  We  have  only  one  con- 
cern in  these  meetings,  and  that  is  to  do  the  people  good — 
eternal  good. 

And  I  have  this  earnest  word  again  to  say  to  these  men 
and  women  who  have  decided  for  Jesus  through  these  days 
and  nights:  Take  your  place  promptly  with  God's  people. 
Talk  with  some  experienced  Christian,  if  you  are  puzzled 
about  any  spiritual  matter.  Above  all,  talk  with  God,  and 
set  your  heart  to  live  that  beautiful,  obedient,  Christian  life, 
so  glorious  for  us  to  live. 

THE  BENEDICTION. 

And  now,  we  go,  with  gratitude  on  our  lips,  welling  up  from  our  hearts,  O 
God,  for  thy  manifest  blessing  upon  the  people  here.  How  we  bless  thee  for  the 
influence  of  thy  Spirit  upon  the  people,  and  for  the  decisions. of  these  who  corn^ 
saying:  "Our  waiting  stops.  Our  surrender  is  given  to  Christ  Jesus^.  ^'.."^^^ 
they  all  go  to  take  their  places  promptly  m  Christ's  army,  to  be  His  soldiers, 
living  the  Christian  life  in  the  noblest  way  possible.  May  they  be  cheered  and 
counseled  from  thyself  and  from  their  fellow  Christians,  even  according  to  their 
need  O  Lord  Jesus,  send  out  with  thine  own  passion  in  their  hearts,  the  whole 
multitude  of  Christians,  to  speak  to  the  children  and  to  sons  and  daughters,  to 
speak  to  friends,  to  loved  ones,  to  neighbors,  to  all  the  people,  passing  nobodv 
bv  to  speak  the  right  word,  the  God-directed  word.,  about  personal  religion,  an^ 
to  speak  it  in  the  hours  just  before  us.  May  we  wait  upon  God  as  never  betore, 
and  call  down  by  prayer  and  worthy  eflFort  God's  gracious  mercies  upon  this  fair 

^^  ^  And  as  the  people  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  be  granted  to 
all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Amen. 


XXII 

NOON  SERVICE,  JUNE  23, 1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Far  just  a  moment,  I  would  follow  up  the  announcement 
made  concerning  the  men's  meeting  in  this  auditorium  at 
3:30  o'clock,  Sunday  afternoon.  Concerning  it,  I  would 
make  these  two  or  three  suggestions :  Let  every  Christian 
man  take  this  occasion  to  speak  to  his  neighbor  and  friend 
and  acquaintance,  wherever  he  is  in  the  community,  and 
ask  such  man  to  come  w^ith  him  to  the  services.  Oh,  how 
the  world  waits  for  personal  attention.  There  can  be  no 
substitutes  for  personal  attention.  The  world  is  dying  from 
tht  lack  of  that  personal  touch.  These  Christian  men  will 
bethink  themselves,  and  call  to  mind  now  and  through  the 
day,  certain  men  throughout  the  city  who,  they  have  rea- 
son to  think,  are  not  Christians,  because  they  are  not 
aligned  publicly  with  God's  people.  These  all  should  be 
approached  in  the  right  way.  Not  one  should  be  passed 
by.  You  think  about  them  now.  There  are  men  in  the 
stores,  in  the  banks,  in  the  shops,  in  the  mills,  and  in  the 
factories,  everywhere.  Take  this  occasion  to  help  them. 
My  fellow-men,  if  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  be  worth 
a  button,  it  is  worth  dying  for,  and  surely  it  is  worth  living 
for.  You  will  now  see  about  helping  your  brother  men 
to  the  last  limit  of  your  power.  And  then  these  women, 
who  will  not  meet  with  us  in  that  afternoon  meeting  for 
men,  will  singly,  or  in  little  groups,  I  trust,  see  how  by 
prayer  they  can  help  the  meeting.    Is  there  any  other  way 

324 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY      325 

whereby  we  may  more  powerfully  help  the  world  than 
by  prayer?  What  a  suggestive  expression  that  is  in  the 
Bible:  "Ye  also  helping  together  by  prayer!"  What  a 
marvelous  force  is  prayer!  Now,  these  women  can  help 
in  that  way,  yonder  in  their  homes,  and  all  of  us  can  help 
as  we  get  ready  for  such  service. 

Very  deeply  has  my  heart  been  touched  from  day  to 
day,  in  these  brief  noonday  services,  that  large  throngs 
of  men  and  women  have  been  minded  to  come  at  such 
hour,  for  such  services.  And  as  I  have  seen  you  come  in, 
and  have  searched  your  faces,  and  have  read  therein  the 
lines  of  burden  and  struggle  and  questioning  and  wistful 
yearning,  as  best  I  could,  I  have  cast  myself  upon  God, 
and  besought  Him  to  help  me  to  help  you.  That  longing 
is  in  my  heart  this  Saturday  noon,  as  you  come  to  this 
last  midday  service. 

Life  is  so  stressful,  so  crowded  with  work  and  battle 
and  burden  that  we  need  all  along  to  fortify  ourselves  with 
the  promises  from  God's  Book.  One  does  not  even  know 
how  to  pray  like  he  ought,  if  he  cannot  take  these  prom- 
ises, and  fill  his  mouth  with  them,  and  plead  them  before 
God,  saying,  as  did  one  of  old:  "Do  as  thou  hast  said." 
These  promises  are  designed  to  inspirit  us,  and  rest  us, 
and  fortify  us.  We  do  not  make  enough  of  these  promises 
from  God's  Book.  They  fit  every  condition  in  human 
life.  If  we  will  only  find  it,  there  is  no  condition  that  is  not 
met  by  a  promise  out  of  God's  Book,  and  these  promises 
give  us  a  grip  on  spiritual  realities.  I  summon  you  to-day, 
my  busy  men  and  women,  to  search  out  these  promises 
from  God's  Book  constantly,  and  appropriate  them,  and 
make  them  your  own,  and  plead  them  before  Him.  One 
promise  from  God's  Book  has,  times  without  count,  an- 
chored a  human  soul  and  kept  it  going  in  the  right  way. 

A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY. 

Text:   "As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."— Deut.  33:25. 

I  wonder  if  there  is  any  other  promise  in  the  Bible  that 
has  more  frequently  proved  itself  a  balm  to  men  and 
women  than  this  promise  that  now  I  read  to  you,  as  the 
text  for  to-day:    "As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

This  morning,   for  a  little  while,   let  us  ponder  that 


326  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

promise.  How  heartening  it  is,  in  view  of  our  weakness! 
Over  against  our  weakness,  there  in  that  promise  is  the 
promise  of  strength.  "As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength 
be."  How  heartening  that  promise  is,  in  the  face  of  our 
weakness!  And  our  weakness  will  be  discovered  to  us, 
in  any  one  of  many  directions  that  we  may  take.  Take 
our  own  duty,  whatever  it  is — and  who  has  not  cried  out 
time  and  again,  as  he  faced  his  duty  and  grappled  with 
it — be  he  preacher,  or  parent,  or  professional  man,  or  other 
toiler,  whoever  he  is — who  has  not  cried  out,  saying,  "Who 
is  sufficient  for  these  things?  How  can  I  get  through  this 
task?"  Now,  over  against  our  sense  of  weakness  and 
weariness  and  faintness,  here  is  this  promise  of  strength. 

This  promise  comes  to  hearten  us  as  we  look  at  the 
progress  that  we  are  making  in  the  better  life.  Whenever 
we  turn  the  glasses  within,  and  search  ourselves  thorough- 
ly, how  pained  we  always  are  at  the  meager  progress  that 
we  are  making  in  the  better  life.  We  look  around  us,  and 
see  certain  personalities  who  are  growing  and  expanding 
and  triumphing  in  a  remarkable  way  in  the  Christian  life, 
as  it  seems  to  us,  and  then  we  look  at  ourselves  and  be- 
hold how  little  the  progress,  how  meager  the  growth,  how 
few  the  attainments  that  we  have  made  and  are  making 
in  the  Christian  life. 

But  especially  does  this  promise  come  to  hearten  us 
and  re-enforce  us,  when  we  look  at  our  besetting  sin  or 
sins  in  life's  daily  battle.  Every  man  has  his  besetment, 
and  every  woman  hers.  The  Bible  speaks  of  the  sin  which 
"doth  so  easily  beset  us."  Every  one  has  his  besetment, 
to  enslave  him,  to  handicap  him,  to  hinder  him.  Now,  a 
promise  like  this  is  of  great  worth  to  us,  as  we  grapple 
with  our  besetment,  whatever  it  is.  With  one  person  it 
is  one  thing,  and  with  another  it  is  another  thing,  but 
every  one  has  his  besetment,  every  one  his  handicap,  his 
weakness,  and  we  need  strength  to  set  over  against  it,  and 
here  it  is  promised  us  in  this  heartening  promise.  One 
man's  besetment  is  the  tendency  all  along  in  human  life 
to  be  discouraged.  Oh,  what  a  pitiful  thing  in  human  life 
to  feel  keenly  the  pressure  and  the  weight  of  depressing 
discouragement?     Every  man  should  set  himself  against 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  327 

it,  and  every  man  should  be  an  encourager.  A  discourager 
hurts  human  life.  Every  man  is  to  be  an  encourager, 
positive  and  constructive  in  his  daily  battle  and  message. 

And  then  here  is  another,  whose  culpable  weakness,  it 
may  be,  is  envy.  Oh,  what  a  terrible  besetment  that  is! 
The  Bible  asks  the  question:  "Who  can  stand  before 
envy?"  It  is  as  rottenness  in  one's  bones.  Envy  is  incip- 
ient murder.  Envy  eats  up  every  noble  thing.  If  a  man 
finds  envy  anywhere  in  his  life,  he  should  pluck  it  out 
and  fling  it  away,  as  he  would  fling  away  the  deadly  cobra, 
seeking  to  coil  about  his  heart. 

Another  man's  handicap  is  the  temptation  to  uncharita- 
bleness.  What  a  serious  handicap  that  is!  In  His  funda- 
mentally revolutionary  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Jesus  uses 
the  searching  words:  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged. 
For  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged;  and 
with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you 
again."  And  then  He  asks  a  biting  question:  "Why  be- 
holdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye" — a 
mote  is  a  tiny  splinter — "Why  beholdest  thou  the  tiny 
little  splinter  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the 
beam" — that  is,  the  big  log — "considerest  not  the  big  log 
that  is  in  thine  own  eye?  Thou  hypocrite,"  said  Jesus, 
"first  cast  out  the  beam" — the  big  log — "out  of  thine  own 
eye ;  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote" — 
the  splinter — "out  of  thy  brother's  eye."  Oh,  if  you  have 
the  tendency  to  harshness,  to  censoriousness,  to  uncharita- 
bleness,  put  it  utterly  away,  it  is  so  disastrous  in  its  bJind- 
ing  and  blighting  eflFect  on  life ! 

But  does  some  one  say:  "No,  that  is  not  my  trouble?" 
Does  he  or  she  say:  "My  trouble  is  the  trouble  of  anxie- 
ty— eating,  consuming,  apprehensive,  corroding  anxiety?" 
I  suppose  that  comes  to  us  all  more  or  less — the  trouble 
of  anxiety.  So  Jesus  speaks  in  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount : 
"Be  not  anxious  about  what  you  shall  eat,  or  what  you 
shall  drink,  or  what  you  shall  wear."  Be  not  anxious! 
Jesus  there  teaches  us  to  put  anxiety  away,  and  He  gives 
us  the  reasons  why  we  should  put  it  away,  why  we  should 
refuse  to  be  enslaved  and  dispirited  by  corroding,  consum- 
ing anxiety.    He  tells  us,  in  the  first  place,  that  anxiety  is 


328  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

utterljr  needless.  "Which  of  you  by  being  anxious  can 
add  one  cubit  to  his  stature?"  Anxiety  won't  help  us  at 
all,  says  Jesus.  And  He  goes  on  and  tells  us  that  God 
cares  for  us,  and  therefore  we  are  to  refuse  to  be  swept 
with  anxiety.  "If  He  clothes  the  grass  of  the  field,  which 
to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  He 
not  much  more  clothe  you,  oh,  ye  of  little  faith?"  If  He 
feeds  the  birds,  if  He  paints  the  lilies,  will  He  not  care 
for  you?  And  so  He  bids  us,  by  His  own  fatherly  care, 
not  to  let  anxiety  eat  like  a  destroying  microbe  into  our 
life.  And  then  He  goes  on  to  tell  us  that  such  anxiety  is 
heathenish.  "After  all  these  things" — something  to  eat, 
and  something  to  wear,  the  temporalities — "after  all  these 
things,"  says  Jesus,  "do  the  Gentiles  seek,"  and  you  are 
to  do  better  than  they.  And  then  He  goes  on  to  tell  us 
that  anxiety  only  adds  to  what  is  coming  to-morrow.  "Suf- 
ficient unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."  For  all  these  rea- 
sons He  bids  us  to  put  anxiety  utterly  out  of  our  lives.  Well 
did  the  immortal  B.  H.  Carroll,  our  incomparable  Texas 
preacher,  say  that  there  are  two  things  that  nobody  should 
worry  about.  First,  he  said  we  should  not  worry  about 
what  we  can  help.  Let  us  help  it,  if  it  can  be  helped.  And 
next,  we  should  not  worry  about  what  we  cannot  help.  If 
we  cannot  help  it,  worry  will  not  improve  it  at  all.  Those 
two  things,  what  we  can  help  and  what  we  cannot  help, 
cover  the  whole  case.  Now,  if  we  can  help  it,  let  us  help 
it,  and  if  we  cannot  help  it,  let  us  cast  it  all  on  God,  and 
say :  "Lord,  lead  thou  me  on,  and  I  will  follow  where  thou 
leadest,"  and  leave  it  just  there. 

Let  me  ask  you  to  look  a  little  more  closely  at  this 
gracious  promise,  with  which  I  would  fain  fortify  your 
heart  and  mine  this  day.  "As  thy  days,  so  shall  be  thy 
strength."  Whose  is  the  promise?  It  is  the  promise,  in 
essence,  which  God  makes  to  His  friends,  times  without 
number,  here  in  this  Holy  Book,  by  'direct  statement,  and 
by  implication.  That  is  the  unending  promise  of  God  all 
through  His  Book.  Now,  since  that  is  God's  promise.  His 
pledge,  that  pledge  is  well-grounded.  There  are  promises 
human.  They  are  often  frail ;  they  often  come  short ;  they 
often  break.     But  this   is   God's  promise,  and  when  we 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  329 

know  it  is  God's  promise  we  can  rest  upon  it  with  all 
the  tranquility  and  peace  with  which  a  child  lies  back  upon 
its  mother's  heart.  Yes,  it  is  God's  promise.  He  comes 
to  MS,  saying:  "You  cling  to  me,  and  follow  as  I  point 
the  way,  and  your  strength  shall  be  meted  out  to  you. 
Whatever  your  doubt  or  duty  or  difficulty,  whatever  your 
sin  or  sorrow  or  suffering,  so  shall  be  your  strength,  if 
you  will  only  cling  to  me." 

But  I  beg  you  to  notice  that  there  is  a  limitation  in 
that  promise.  Many  of  God's  promises  have  limitations, 
and  all  this  is  to  be  looked  at  carefully.  This  promise 
here  has  a  limitation.  Notice  it:  "As  thy  days,  so  shall 
be  thy  strength."  "As  thy  days" — ^you  see  the  limitation. 
"As  thy  days,  so  shall  be  thy  strength."  Nowhere  does 
God  say:  "As  thy  desires,"  because  many  a  time  our  de- 
sires are  improper.  Many  a  time  our  desires  are  selfish. 
Many  a  time,  if  our  desires  were  granted  us,  we  would  be 
far  worse  off.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  withheld  answers 
to  prayers,  just  because  God  loves  us  too  much  to  send 
an  answer  to  some  prayers  we  offer.  If  your  little  child 
comes  into  the  room  in  the  morning,  before  the  tasks  of 
the  day  begin,  perhaps  as  the  father  is  at  the  mirror  shav- 
ing, and  the  little  thing  reaches  up  and  clutches  for  the 
razor,  and  insists  that  the  father  shall  give  it  the  razor, 
the  father  holds  it  back  and  will  not  let  the  child  have 
that  deadly  thing  in  its  little  hands.  The  father  knows  that 
the  child  will  harm  itself  with  that  instrument,  and  he 
loves  the  child  too  well  to  grant  the  child  its  desire.  And 
many  a  time  you  and  I  cry  in  our  hearts  for  something 
which  we  so  much  wish,  and  God  sometimes  withholds  the 
answer,  for  if  we  got  the  thing  that  we  pant  for  and  yearn 
for,  it  would  be  a  razor  with  which  we  would  cut  ourselves, 
and  so  God  knows  best. 

That  is  a  remarkable  picture  of  Paul,  with  his  thorn  in 
the  flesh.  No  one  knows  what  Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh  was, 
but  it  was  something  very  serious.  Paul  was  not  a  cry-baby. 
If  ever  there  was  a  manly  preacher,  who  left  his  impress 
in  the  sands  of  earth,  it  was  the  Apostle  Paul.  Sincere 
was  he  as  the  sunlight :  genuine  to  the  very  depths  of  his 
heart,  as  every  man  of  God  ought  ever  to  be.    The  funda- 


330  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

mental  virtue  in  life  is  truth  and  integrity  and  sincerity. 
If  a  man  be  not  sincere,  his  life  is  a  ghastly  lie.  This  man 
Paul  was  the  incarnation  of  sincerity  and  integrity  and 
truth.  But  he  said:  "There  was  given  me  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan,  sent  to  buffet  me."  He  said : 
"I  imitated  my  Lord  in  the  garden,  who  poured  out  His 
prayer  to  His  Father  three  times.  So  did  I  pour  out  my 
prayer,"  said  Paul,  "beseeching  the  Lord  thrice  that  He 
would  take  that  thorn  out  of  my  flesh."  And  the  Lord 
answered  him :  "I  will  do  nothing  of  the  sort,  Paul.  I  am 
going  to  leave  that  thorn  right  there  in  your  life."  Mark 
you,  it  was  a  "messenger  of  Satan,  sent  to  buffet  him." 
Oh,  how  it  goaded  him,  and  harassed  him,  and  tortured 
him,  and  burned  him!  But  God  left  it  there,  even  though 
Paul  prayed  three  times  that  God  would  take  it  away. 
And  wouldn't  you  have  rejoiced  to  have  heard  Paul  pray? 
Evidently  Paul  was  at  his  best  when  he  was  on  his  knees. 
Wouldn't  you  have  been  glad  to  have  heard  Paul  pray  that 
prayer  to  God  three  times:  "Take  this  thorn  away?"  God 
did  not  take  it  away,  but  He  gave  His  gracious  re-enforce- 
ment: "Paul,  my  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  And  after 
that,  Paul  went  his  way  singing:  "Most  gladly,  therefore, 
will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmity,  for  v/hen  I  am  weak, 
then  I  am  strong.  The  power  of  Christ,"  said  Paul,  "rests 
upon  me  because  of  this  thorn,  as  I  never  would  have  had 
it  if  the  thorn  had  not  come."  Now,  doesn't  that  explain 
very  much?  God  comes  with  His  fortifying  power  to  help 
his  child,  whatever  the  need,  whatever  the  day. 

Let  us  look  into  this  promise  a  moment  further:  "As 
thy  days,  so  shall  be  thy  strength."  It  does  not  say:  "As 
thy  fears."  Wasn't  it  Spurgeon  who  said  that  everybody 
has  a  trouble  factory  at  his  house,  and  if  the  trouble  does 
not  come  along  easily  and  quickly,  we  put  the  factory  to 
work  to  see  that  it  comes?  Oh,  what  fearful  folk  we  are! 
Everywhere  God's  message  to  us  is:  "Fear  not."  One 
of  the  most  wonderful  things  said  by  Jesus  is  in  the  last 
book  of  the  Holy  Bible.  It  is  His  ringing  word:  "Fear 
not."  "Fear  not  to  live,"  said  Jesus,  "for  I  am  alive." 
"Fear  not  to  die,"  said  Jesus,  "for  I  died.  I  have  explored 
every  chamber  of  the  grave,  and  you  need  not  be  afraid." 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  331 

"And  then  you  need  not  be  afraid  of  what  is  coming  after 
death,"  said  Jesus,  "for  I  hold  in  my  hands  the  keys  of 
death  and  of  the  invisible  world."  "Fear  not,"  Jesus  said, 
"because  I  am  alive,  you  need  not  to  be  afraid  to  live, 
whatever  comes  to  you.  And  you  need  not  be  afraid  to 
die,  no  matter  where  nor  when.  And  you  need  not  be 
afraid  of  what  is  coming  after  death,  for  I  have  the  keys 
of  death  and  the  invisible  world  in  my  hands.  You  trust 
me  and  be  without  fear."  That  is  His  wonderful  word. 
Let  us  hide  it  in  our  every  heart. 

In  a  certain  pastorate,  there  was  one  woman  who  had 
a  good  deal  of  property — only  one.  The  rest  were  very 
poor.  This  woman  was  far  along  in  years,  indeed,  around 
seventy,  I  should  say,  and  all  her  children  were  married 
and  gone;  and  yet  every  time  the  young  pastor  went  to 
see  her,  how  fearful  she  was  lest  her  bank  stock  should 
somehow  be  lost,  lest  her  property  somehow  should  take 
wings  and  fly  away,  or  be  burned  up;  lest  she  should  at 
last  die  in  the  poor  house.  She  said  that  to  the  young 
preacher,  again  and  again,  until  at  last,  he  turned  and 
said  to  her,  as  tenderly  and  faithfully  as  he  could:  "What 
does  it  really  matter,  dear  sister,  at  last,  if  you  trust  your 
all  to  Christ,  if  you  should  die  in  the  poorhouse?  God 
will  send  His  chariot  to  carry  you  home,  whether  you  are 
in  a  hovel  or  a  mansion,  if  you  really  trust  Him  as  your 
Savior.    Put  your  fears  away." 

I  am  thinking  now  of  an  old  farmer,  and  his  case  es- 
sentially describes  us  all,  I  judge.  He  had  to  make  a  train 
at  a  certain  hour  in  the  early  morning.  He  lived  some 
three  or  four  miles  out  there  in  the  country  away  from 
the  railway  station.  And  so  he  set  his  alarm  clock  to 
rouse  him,  that  he  might  reach  the  station  at  a  certain 
hour;  and  then,  wonder  of  wonders,  he  sat  up  and  watched 
the  alarm  clock,  to  see*  if  it  went  off  at  the  time  he  set  it ! 
Now,  we  smile  at  that,  but  isn't  it  true  that  we  are  smiling 
at  ourselves?  Oh,  how  our  fears  harass  us,  and  corrode 
us,  and  appall  us  and  enslave  us,  and  dispirit  us !  The  great 
promise  to-day  would  teach  us  to  put  our  fears  away,  once 
and  forever. 


332  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Let  us  look  at  this  promise  yet  a  moment  further.  What 
is  it  ?  "As  thy  days" — not  as  thy  weeks,  not  as  thy  months, 
not  as  thy  years,  not  as  thy  seasons — "as  thy  days."  God 
comes  to  us  saying:  "Live  one  day  at  a  time.  Cling  to 
me,  and  do  my  will,  and  stand  faithfuly  at  your  post, 
one  day  at  a  time,  and  all  shall  be  well."  You  say:  "We 
want  to  see  long  stretches  at  once."  You  say :  "We  want 
to  see  years,  with  all  their  hidden  secrets  and  undisclosed 
meanings,  in  one  little  day."  But  that  is  not  God's  way. 
You  say:  "We  demand  that  the  long  future  shall  tell  us 
its  secrets,"  and  it  refuses  to  do  it.  Jesus  comes,  saying: 
"Take  it  one  day  at  a  time.  And  from  morning  until  noon- 
tide, and  from  noontide  until  the  nightfall,  and  when  earth 
is  wrapped  in  the  shadows  of  the  night,  just  one  day  at  a 
time,  take  it,  and  cling  ever  to  me,  and  even  the  seeming 
defeats  of  life  shall  be  turned  into  triumphs." 

Note  well  the  limitation  to  the  promise.  It  says:  "As 
thy  days" — you  see  how  comprehensive  that  is;  that  in- 
cludes all  the  days,  whatever  they  are,  however  they 
come — "so  shall  be  thy  strength."  Some  days  are  dark, 
and  other  days  are  bright.  Some  days,  we  feel  more  and 
drink  deeper  of  the  awful  draught  of  human  pain  and  ex- 
perience and  wounding  and  surprise  and  wonderment,  than 
in  thirty  whole  years  beside.  Ah,  me!  Some  of  us  know 
about  it.  Some  of  us  know  what  it  is,  in  one  short  day, 
to  have  had  more  pain  and  battle  and  wonderment  and 
agony  and  surprise — in  one  short  day  when  the  heavens 
were  all  darkened,  when  neither  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  star 
would  shine  at  all — some  of  us  have  known  more  of  suf- 
fering in  one  dark  day  like  that  than  in  thirty  years  beside. 
But  this  promise  covers  a  day  like  that.  Job  had  his  black 
Friday,  when  everything  was  swept  from  him — servants 
and  property  and  children  and  health  and  friends-=r-and 
even  his  own  wife — God  save  the  mark! — said  to  her  hus- 
band :  "Curse  God  and  die !"  And  Job  simply  said :  "Let 
come  on  me  what  will,  though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust 
in  Him."  And  out  of  the  deepest  depths  he  came  again  to 
higher  heights  than  ever  before.    That  is  God's  promise. 

Some  (lays  are  little,  an9  some  Hays  are  large,  and  in 
all   those  3ays,   commonplace   and   ordinary  and   routine 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  333 

days,  Jesus  says:  "I  will  be  with  you."  And  then  when 
come  life's  testing  days — days  big  with  meaning,  with 
terror,  with  pain,  with  duty,  with  trial — ^Jesus  stands  there 
to  fortify  us  as  we  go  on  clinging  to  Him. 

And  then  there  comes  a  last  earthly  day — ^the  day  of 
death.  Somebody  asked  Dwight  L.  Moody  if  he  had  dying 
grace,  and  he  said:  "Why,  no.  I  have  living  grace,  but 
when  I  come  to  die  I  shall  have  dying  grace."  And  when 
they  carried  him  home  from  a  meeting  he  was  conducting 
in  Kansas  City,  where  a  fatal  sickness  had  seized  him,  there 
propped  up  on  his  pillows,  with  his  loved  ones  around  him, 
he  looked  at  them,  and  then  looked  up  into  the  open  heav- 
ens, and  said :  "The  world  is  receding.  Heaven  is  opening. 
God  is  calling  me,  and  I  must  be  away."  He  had  dying 
grace  when  death  came. 

I  recall  very  vividly  the  recent  going  away  of  the  wife 
of  one  of  our  most  honored  Texas  judges.  She  had  said 
to  me  again  and  again,  that  she  greatly  feared  she  was 
not  a  Christian,  and  her  fear  came  because  all  her  lifetime 
she  was  in  bondage  through  fear  of  death.  She  never  went 
to  a  funeral,  or  into  a  death  chamber,  if  she  could  avoid 
it.  She  had  that  unspeakable  fear  of  death  which  is  de- 
scribed in  that  Scripture  which  says:  "Who  through 
fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage." 
I  said  to  her  again  and  again:  "Mrs.  So-and-so,  if  you 
are  trusting  Christ" — and  she  would  say :  "If  I  am  trusting 
Him?  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  Him,"  And 
then  I  said :  "If  you  are  trusting  Him,  when  the  day  comes 
for  you  to  go.  His  grace  will  be  sufficient,  and  if  you  are 
conscious  that  day,  you  will  know  that  it  is  sufficient." 
And  the  day  did  come  a  little  while  ago,  and  the  nurse 
and  the  doctor  were  there,  and  she  turned  her  lustrous  eyes 
to  the  doctor,  and  said:  "Doctor,  what  is  this?"  And  he 
did  not  reply.  He  was  a  very  dear  friend  of  the  family. 
And  she  said  again:  "Tell  me  frankly,  doctor,  is  this 
death  ?"  He  said :  "Yes,  Mrs.  So-and-so,  it  is  death."  And 
then  she  turned  to  her  husband,  and  she  said :  "Oh,  dear 
husband,  you  know  this  is  the  hour  that  for  thirty  years 
I  have  dreaded.  This  is  the  hour  of  all  hours  I  have 
shrunk  from."     And  then  she  said:     "Husband,  don't  ymi 


334  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

see  that  face?  Don't  you  hear  that  music?  Christ  is  here. 
I  have  never  known  such  rapture  of  light  and  peace  and 
joy."  And  in  a  very  flood  of  celestial  glory  the  timid  wife 
went  out  into  the  night,  and  through  the  night  into  the 
land  Elysian.    She  found  that  God's  grace  was  sufficient. 

Will  you  take  this  promise  to-day  and  make  it  yours? 
Will  you  take  this  promise  and  incarnate  it  in  your  life? 
Oh,  if  you  will  cling  to  Jesus  as  your  Savior  and  the  Mas- 
ter of  your  life,  if  you  will  let  Him  come  into  your  life 
and  save  you  His  own  way — and  He  will  never  save  you 
any  other  way  but  His  way — and  then  let  Him  guide  you 
His  way,  and  let  His  will  be  the  law  of  your  life,  and  let 
His  program  be  fully  accepted  by  you  as  your  program, 
you  will  turn  the  battle  back  from  the  gate,  no  matter 
what  it  is,  and  you  will  have  days  of  heaven  upon  the 
earth,  no  matter  what  else  you  have.  He  will  verify  to 
you  this  promise  through  all  the  days,  and  He  will  love, 
and  He  will  guide,  and  hold,  and  help,  and  lead  you,  till 
the  day  is  done. 

There  is  just  one  concern  for  every  one  of  us  to  have, 
and  that  concern  is  to  be  faithful  to  Jesus  Christ.  There 
is  one  thing  I  want  to  hear  from  Him  at  last,  when  I  shall 
see  Him  face  to  face — one  thing  I  long  to  hear — and  that 
is  that  blessed  plaudit:  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant."  His  challenging  word  is:  "Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death."  He  does  not  say  "until  death."  He  does 
not  mean  that.  He  says :  "Be  thou  faithful  unto  death" — 
faithful  to  the  dying  point.  Die  any  time,  and  die  any- 
where, before  you  will  be  unfaithful.  The  one  supreme 
canon  of  human  conduct  is:  "Is  this  right?  Then  I  will 
do  the  right,  though  the  heavens  fall."  "Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 

Out  of  my  boyhooH  there  comes  a  memory — you  will 
allow  me  to  speak  of  it — one  of  the  tenderest  memories  oi 
all  my  life.  Many  have  been  the  days  that,  far  back  in  the 
mountains,  hard  by  the  little  country  schoolhouse,  I  have 
sat  beside  another  boy,  14,  15  or  16  years  of  age,  and  we 
have  builded  our  air  castles,  as  boys  will,  and  as  they 
ought  to  do.  We  dreamed  our  dreams.  He  was  going  to 
be  a  victorious  business  man,  and  delight  the  world  with 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  335 

his  philanthropy  and  service,  and  he  has  already  made 
^ood.  And  I  was  going  in  another  direction.  I  was  going 
to  be  a  lawyer,  and  give  my  life  to  that  noble  calling.  The 
flying  years  came  on,  with  their  many  changes  and  deeper 
questions.  This  young  fellow  came  to  the  great  West 
earlier  than  I,  and  afterward,  God  met  me  one  day  in  a 
quiet  country  church  house,  and  from  that  hour  I  have 
traveled  another  road.  The  years  have  passed  since  we 
used  to  have  those  dreams  together,  beside  the  modest, 
country  school  house.  A  little  while  ago  I  was  this  big 
man's  guest,  in  his  own  fair  home.  His  community  had 
arranged  a  notable  public  occasion,  and  had  me  as  their 
invited  guest,  to  speak  to  them.  I  was  a  guest,  of  course, 
in  Jim's  fair  home  while  I  was  there.  And  after  the  ad- 
dress, and  when  we  had  had  our  meal,  and  after  the  hours 
had  galloped  away  like  minutes,  I  said:  "Now,  Jim,  I 
must  make  ready  to  go  to  the  train."  He  said:  "Well, 
we  will  walk,  if  you  don't  mind  it,  that  we  may  talk  like 
we  used  to  talk  in  the  far-off  hills."  And  out  of  the  years 
we  talked,  and  talked,  and  then  he  said:  "Would  you 
like  for  me  to  tell  you  the  sweetest  memory  out  of  all  my 
life?"  Of  course,  I  wanted  to  hear  it,  and  he  reminded 
me  that  his  father  was  an  invalid  for  years,  and  that  he 
who  was  conversing  with  me  was  the  only  boy,  in  a  house- 
ful of  sisters,  and  that  the  burdens  of  the  family  fell  on 
him,  while  sometimes  he  would  chafe  under  the  burdens, 
they  were  so  trying  and  so  heavy.  One  day  the  invalid 
father  sat  on  the  porch  in  his  deep  chair,  as  was  his  wont, 
and  Jim  said  to  him:  "Father,  couldn't  you  attend  to 
certain  little  chores  at  the  barn  to-day?"  He  answered: 
"Why,  certainly,  son."  Jim  said:  "I  will  be  until  after 
dark,  plowing  in  the  lower  field,  and  if  you  can  attend  to 
those  little  chores,  it  will  help  me."  The  father  said :  "Cer- 
tainly, my  boy,  I  will  be  so  glad  to  do  it."  Jim  came  in 
after  nightfall,  and  came  to  the  porch,  where  sat  his  father, 
and  they  commenced  talking,  when  Jim  remembered  and 
asked  his  father:  "Did  you  look  after  the  little  chores  at 
the  barn?"  And,  with  a  pitiful  sigh,  the  father  said:  "My 
boy,  T  am  ashamed  to  tell  you,  T  forgot  all  about  it.'*  And 
then  Jim  said  that  the  hot  words  of  impatience,  for  he  was 


336  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

tired,  were  ready  to  fly  from  his  lips,  but  he  swallowed 
them  back — God  forgive  you  and  me,  when  we  do  not 
swallow  them  back ! — and  Jim  said :  "Never  mind,  father ; 
I  can  fix  it  in  a  few  minutes,  and  then  I  will  come  back 
and  tell  you  some  splendid  news  about  the  lower  farm.  I 
will  soon  fix  it.  Don't  you  worry,  father."  And  the  old 
man  said,  with  surpassing  pathos  in  his  voice:  "Come 
back  now,  Jim.  Come  back  now — right  now."  Jim  came 
back,  and  the  old  man  said:  "Come  where  I  can  feel  you. 
I  can  barely  see  you  in  the  day  time,  and  cannot  see  you 
at  all  after  night."  And  Jim  came  nearer,  and  the  father 
put  his  hands  upon  Jim's  head,  and  then  the  old  man 
sobbed  for  a  minute  or  two,  unable  to  speak.  And  when 
he  could  speak  at  last,  he  said:  "Oh,  my  boy,  God  bless 
you,  just  because  you  are  always  so  faithful  to  duty !  You 
will  never  know  what  a  comfort  you  are  to  me,  you  are 
so  faithful,  my  son,  to  duty."  Jim  could  not  speak  after 
that ;  of  course  not.  What  boy  could  speak  after  a  speech 
like  that  from  his  father?  And  Jim  turned  away,  and  at- 
tended to  the  chores,  and  came  back  singing  a  few  minutes 
later.  A  boy  who  lives  like  that  has  a  right  to  sing.  And 
as  he  approached  the  high  porch,  where  his  father  sat  in 
his  deep  chair,  he  began  talking.  "Father,"  he  said,  but 
there  was  no  response.  And  again  he  said :  "Father,"  but 
there  was  no  answer.  And  he  was  beside  his  father  im- 
mediately, touching  his  pulse,  but  it  was  still,  and  the 
hand  of  the  son  was  thrust  above  the  old  man's  heart, 
but  it  had  ceased  to  beat.  Out  of  the  weariness  an4  pain 
of  life,  the  tired  old  man  had  gone  to  that  land  where 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying; 
neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain.  And  then  this  great 
citizen  of  the  West,  one  of  the  worthiest  the  great  West 
has  ever  had,  and  one  of  the  most  useful,  said  to  me,  with 
a  sob :  "Oh,  sir,  the  sweetest  memory  of  all  is  father's 
word,  'God  bless  you,  my  boy!  You  are  such  a  comfort 
to  me,  because  you  are  always  so  faithful  to  duty.' "  You 
want  to  hear  that  at  last,  and  so  do  I,  when  we  stand  face 
to  face  before  Him  whose  we  are  and  whom  we  live  to 
serve. 

Let  us  cling  utterly  and  only  and  always  to  Christ. 


A  PROMISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  337 

Let  us  trust  Him  till  the  day  is  done,  and  then  go  to  be 
with  Him  and  to  be  like  Him  forever. 

THE    CLOSING   PRAYER. 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  O  Lord  Jesus,  speak  thou  the  word  in  season  to 
our  every  heart.  From  to-day,  let  us  go  to  live  the  life  which  is  life  indeed.  Let 
parents  here  set  themselves,  with  a  devotion  that  sin  and  Satan  cannot  break,  to 
put  Christ  first  forever,  whatever  His  way  and  wherever  He  leads,  and  they  shall 
walk  in  a  path  crowned  with  the  days  of  heaven  upon  the  earth.  May  thy  mercy 
come  upon  all  the  people  of  this  vast  expanding  city,  charged  as  it  is  with  such  re- 
sponsibilities,^ and  freighted  as  it  is  with  such  destinies.  O,  touch  thou  this 
whole  city  with  the  touch  of  God  to-day.  And  to-morrow,  when  the  people  meet 
in  their  every  place  of  worship,  may  they  worship  thee  in  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
with  the  favor  of  God  upon  every  preacher,  and  upon  every  church,  and  even 
upon  those  who  may  not  go  to  church  and  may  have  no  care  for  the  things  of 
God  and  their  own  souls.  Save  the  people,  O  God,  and  they  shall  be  saved,  and 
the  glory   shall   all  be  thine. 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  the  triune  God  be  granted  to  each 
and  all,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Amen. 


XXIII 

SERVICE  FOR  MEN,  SUNDAY  AFTERNOON, 

JUNE  24,  1917. 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

Very  gladly,  my  brother  men  and  gentlemen,  do  I  wel- 
come the  privilege  of  speaking  at  this  hour  to  the  men  of 
this  goodly  city.  I  know  about  men's  battles,  their  tempta- 
tions, their  questions,  their  heart  hungers,  and  I  find  in 
my  own  heart  a  longing  inexpressible  to  help  them.  That 
is  the  feeling  now  in  my  heart,  as  I  look  you  in  the  face, 
and  stretch  out  to  you  a  brother's  hand,  and  offer  you  a 
brother's  heart.  I  have  counted  it  a  very  rare  privilege 
for  these  past  few  days  to  be  the  guest  of  the  two  hon- 
ored pastors  who  sit  behind  me,  Dr.  Smith  and  Dr.  Ed- 
wards, and  to  be  refreshed  by  fellowship  with  them — men 
modest  and  valiant  and  true;  men  whose  ministry  is  so 
nobly  constructive,  and  men  whose  words  and  examples 
point  always  toward  the  morning.  I  have  counted  it  a 
rare  privilege  to  be  their  guest,  and  the  guest  of  their  two 
noble  congregations.  And,  more,  I  have  counted  it  a  very 
refreshing  privilege  to  meet  many  of  God's  men  of  other 
congregations  than  these  two,  to  meet  many  of  the  noble 
ministers  of  these  various  flocks,  and  their  people,  whose 
courtesies  to  the  visiting  preacher  have  been  so  constant 
and  gracious.  And  still  more,  I  have  counted  it  a  privilege 
to  meet  face  to  face,  and  to  know  at  close  range,  many 
of  your  citizens  who  are  not  yet  church  men  at  all,  but 
who  are  giving  their  splendid,  capable  energy  to  aki  in 

338 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  339 

bringing  in  a  larger  and  better  civilization  for  the  world. 
These  men,  I  pray,  may  soon  come  with  us  to  the  side  and 
service  of  Christ. 

I  covet  every  man  of  you  for  Christ.  I  have  a  passion- 
ate longing  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  this  whole  great 
state  of  ours,  and  though  I  live  in  one  of  its  cities,  and  have 
for  a  long  time  therein  lived,  I  have  the  most  earnest  in- 
terest in  all  our  cities  and  in  all  our  people.  I  have  said, 
from  one  coast  of  America  to  the  other,  that  nowhere  in 
all  this  world,  in  my  humble  judgment,  was  there  a  greater- 
hearted,  cleaner-minded,  more  forward-looking  type  of  men 
than  we  have  here  in  this  vast,  renascent,  responsive  state. 
The  men  of  this  state  incarnate  as  do  no  other  men  I  know, 
that  little  poem : 

WHERE  DOES  THE  WEST  BEGIN? 

Out   where   the  handclasp  is  a  h'ttle  bit   stronger. 
Out    where    the    smile   lasts   a   trifle   longer — 

That's    where    the    West    begins. 
Out   where   the   sun   shines  a   trifle   brighter, 
Where  the  snows  that  fall  are  a  trifle  whiter, 
And  the  bonds  of  home  are  a  wee  bit  tighter 

That's   where   the   West   begins. 

Out  where  the   sky  is   a  trifle  bluer. 

Where   friendships    formed  are   somewhat  truer — 

That's    where    the    West    begins. 
Out   where  a   fresher  breeze  is   blowing, 
Where  there's  laughter  in  every  stream  that's  flowing. 
Where  there  is  more  of  reaping  and  less  of  sowing — 

That's   where   the   West   begins. 

Out   where  the   world  is  in  the  making, 

Where   fewer  hearts   with   despair  are  breaking — 

That's    where    the    West    begins. 
Where  there's  more  of  singing  and  less  of  sighing, 
Where  there's   more  of  giving  and  less  of  buying. 
And  a  man   makes   friends   without  half  trying — 

That's   where   the   West   begins. 

Oh,  how  T  covet  this  great  West,  every  man  in  it,  for 
Christ,  my  Savior  and  Lord! 

THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE. 

Text:  "Refuge  failed  me.  •  ♦  •  T  cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  I  said,  Thou 
art  my   refuge."— Psa.    142:4,  5. 

What  shall  I  say  to  you,  my  brothers,  as  I  come  for 
an  afternoon  service,  for  a  little  while  just  with  the  men? 
I  would  say  to  you  that  all  is  well,  whatever  comes, 
whether  in  life  or  death,  or  in  God's  great  beyond,  for- 
ever, if  It  is  well  with  the  soul.  And  I  would  say  that 
nothing  IS  well,  nothing  really  and  abidingly  succeeds,  if 
it  IS  not  well  with  a  man's  soul.     In  the  old  worW  there 


340  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

is  a  painting,  which  has  been  copied,  and  the  copy  hangs 
in  every  noble  art  gallery  in  the  world-— a  painting  of  a 
storm,  before  which  terrible  storm,  men  and  beasts  are 
fleeing,  if  haply  they  may  find  a  refuge.  That  is  a  picture 
of  every  rational  human  life.  This,  then,  is  the  text  upon 
which  I  would  speak  to  you:  "Refuge  failed  me"  (or  as 
the  marginal  reading  has  it,  "fled  away  from  me"),  "then 
I  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  'Thou  art  my  refuge.' " 

A  refuge  means  protection  against  danger.  It  means 
a  source  of  safety.  I  wonder,  as  I  search  this  audience 
now,  and  glance  at  every  face  before  me,  if  you  have  a 
refuge,  each  one  of  you,  for  your  soul,  and  what  is  that 
refuge,  and  does  that  refuge  suffice  you,  and  is  that  refuge 
safe,  and  will  that  refuge  meet  all  the  tests? 

You  will  agree  with  me,  I  doubt  not,  that  the  funda- 
mental need  of  every  man  is  a  refuge  for  his  soul.  That 
need  takes  precedence  of  every  other  need,  and  that  need 
is  fundamental.  That  every  man  needs  a  refuge  for  his 
soul  will  be  indicated  by  a  glance  in  any  one  of  many 
directions.  For  one  thing,  a  man  needs  a  refuge  against 
the  accusing  cry  of  his  own  conscience.  Oh,  what  pain 
there  is,  at  times,  in  the  human  conscience!  'Tis  the 
acutest  and  most  terrible  pain  of  all,  and  every  man  needs 
a  refuge  against  the  accusing  cry  of  his  own  conscience, 
Conscience  may  be  dulled;  conscience  may  be  seared; 
conscience  may  be  mistaught ;  and  yet  conscience  will  hav 
its  hours  when  it  will  make  its  serious  and  terrible  cry. 

I  talked  a  little  while  ago  with  a  man  well  reared.  His 
position  has  been  lofty,  but  he  has  missed  the  right  road| 
terribly,  and  has  fallen  more  terribly.  He  said  to  me 
after  our  interview,  and  as  we  were  separating:  "Oh, 
man,  God  Almighty  alone  knows  how  I  have  suffered  in 
my  conscience!"  Every  man  needs  a  refuge  from  the  ac- 
cusing cry  of  his  own  conscience,  for  every  man  must 
live  with  himself. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Bible,  it  makes  that  insistence, 
by  precept  and  by  illustration,  after  the  most  impressive 
fashion.  Take  the  case  of  John  the  Baptist,  that  intrepid 
preacher  who  stood  before  purple-robed  Herod  and  spoke 
to  him  concerning  righteousness  and  temperance  and  the 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  341 

judgment  to  come,  and  at  last  paid  for  it  with  his  life. 
You  remember  the  outcome  of  it  to  that  man  Herod.  Her- 
od had  John  killed,  and  you  remember  the  later  outcome. 
Months  afterward,  as  Herod  with  his  courtiers  feasted, 
suddenly  the  topic  of  conversation  with  him  and  his  men 
changed,  and  they  began  to  speculate  as  to  who  that  won- 
derful man  was  out  yonder  in  the  country,  who  was  so 
speaking  that  the  very  cities  were  emptied  of  their  people, 
to  go  out  by  the  riverside  to  hear  what  He  said.  And 
Herod  rose  up,  trembling  like  an  aspen  leaf,  and  blurted 
out  his  cry:  "I  suspect  you  are  talking  about  John  the 
Baptist,  whom  I  beheaded  months  ago,  but  who  has  risen 
from  the  dead."    Conscience  was  not  dead! 

You  recall  the  tragic  case  of  Judas,  who  sold  Jesus 
for  thirty  pieces  of  silver — about  fifteen  dollars  of  our 
money — and  then  came  back  a  few  hours  later,  and  threw 
down  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  the  men  with  whom 
he  traded,  and  said:  "Let's  rue  the  bargain.  I  have  be- 
trayed the  innocent  blood.  Take  this  money  back.  It 
burns  my  brain.  It  burns  my  pockets.  It  burns  my  hand. 
It  burns  my  conscience."  And  the  men  with  whom  he 
traded,  mocked  him  and  scorned  him,  and  then,  goaded 
by  conscience,  Judas  went  out  and  took  his  own  life.  Oh, 
my  brother  men,  there  is  no  pain  so  terrible  as  the  ac- 
cusing cry  of  the  human  conscience ! 

Take  human  life,  temporal  and  secular,  and  it  is  crowd- 
ed with  illustrations  bearing  upon  this  same  point.  I  recall 
that  realistic  story  of  a  man  in  another  land,  years  ago, 
a  Judge,  who  had  there  in  his  court  a  young  man  charged 
with  murdering  his  master,  and  who,  to  conceal  his  crime, 
had  burned  down  the  house  over  the  master's  head.  The 
trial  was  stubbornly  fought,  and  was  at  last  drawing  to 
a  conclusion,  and  the  judge  had  to  give  his  charge  in  the 
matter.  He  stood  up  to  give  the  charge,  and  they  saw 
his  exceeding  agitation,  and  then  he  sat  down  without 
speaking.  And  then,  with  still  deeper  agitation,  he  left 
the  Judge's  bench,  atiH  went  down  into  the  prisoner's  dock, 
an3  sat  Sown  beside  the  prisoner,  aiid  put  his  face  in  his 
hands  and  groaned  aloud.  There  was  a  sensation,  of 
course,  in  the  court  room.    Lawyers  on  either  side  looked 


342  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

aghast  at  one  another  and  wondered  what  it  all  meant. 
And  presently,  when  they  got  up  and  went  to  him,  and 
said:  "What  on  earth  is  it.  Judge?"  with  choking  diffi- 
culty he  said  to  them :  "I  have  tried  my  own  case.  Thirty 
years  ago  I  murdered  my  master,  and  to  hide  my  crime 
I  burned  down  the  house  over  his  head,  and  if  any  person 
ever  suspected  me,  I  do  not  know  it.  I  cannot  go  on  with 
this  trial.  I  have  tried  my  own  case.  I  cannot  continue 
further  with  this  case."  Thirty  years  had  elapsed,  but 
conscience  had  made  its  cry. 

The  writings  of  the  great  dramatists,  Shakespeare  and 
George  Eliot  and  Victor  Hugo,  and  men  and  women  of 
their  class,  are  going  to  live,  while  ten  thousand  piles  of 
trashy  literature  die,  because  they  have  recognized  the  vi- 
tality of  the  human  conscience.  Take  Macbeth;  see  the 
effort  made  there  to  get  the  blood  off  the  hands,  and  hear 
the  pitiful  cry  as  the  hands  are  lifted  up,  with  the  ex- 
clamation: "Oh,  the  blood,  the  blood!  Though  I  lav<^ 
here  in  this  basin,  I  cannot  get  it  off!" 

Take  the  story  by  George  Eliot,  where  she  tells  of  the 
fatal  going  astray  of  a  young  girl.  Earth's  saddest  sight 
is  that.  Let  angels  veil  their  faces,  and  let  crepe  be  put 
on  the  door  of  heaven,  when  a  young  girl  thus  falls  into 
shame.  George  Eliot  tells  it  in  her  own  inimitable  fash- 
ion, and  then  she  describes  the  young  girl  putting  to  death 
the  little  child  to  which  she  had  given  birth,  seeking  thus 
to  hide  the  shame  and  crime.  She  slew  the  little  child  out 
there  in  the  hedge,  and  later  she  was  apprehended  and 
brought  to  justice  and  judgment,  and  kindly  women  got 
around  the  wretched  and  fallen  girl,  and  sought  to  coun- 
sel and  help  her.  She  listened  to  them  —  listened  as  if 
in  a  trance  —  and  when  they  would  finish  saying  to  her 
every  kindly  and  helpful  thing  they  could  think  to  say, 
she  would  answer  them  with  the  wailing  chant :  "Yes,  yes, 
I  hear  all  that  you  say,  but  will  I  always  hear  the  cry  of  j 
the  little  child  that  I  put  to  death  in  the  hedge?"  What  is 
the  great  dramatist  saying?  She  is  saying  that  conscience] 
lives,  and  that  men  must  reckon  with  conscience.  Now, 
every  man  needs  a  refuge  from  the  accusing  cry  of  his 
own  conscience. 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  343 

Nor  is  that  all.  Every  man  needs  a  refuge  from  the 
slumbering  power  of  sin  in  his  own  life.  I  grieve  for  any 
man  who  boasts  of  his  strength.  No  man  knows  how  weak 
he  is,  and  every  man  needs  a  refuge  against  the  slumbering 
power  of  sin  in  his  own  life.  Many  of  the  finest,  most 
splendid,  most  gifted,  most  generous,  most  lovable  men, 
go  down  to  doom  and  death  because  of  the  slumbering 
power  of  sin  in  their  own  lives. 

Every  man  needs  a  refuge  when  he  comes  to  that  last 
hour  that  aAvaits  us  every  one,  to  that  grim  sarcasm  of 
human  life  called  death.  Every  man  needs  a  refuge  when 
he  comes  to  that  hour — an  hour  we  cannot  escape,  an  hour 
we  cannot  evade  or  miss.  Oh,  there  are  times  when  we 
wonder  if  there  is  not  some  way  past  it! 

I  told  a  group  the  other  day  of  the  recent  funeral  of  a 
mother  in  my  city,  who  left  a  houseful  of  children,  and 
the  oldest  girl  mothered  all  those  younger  children.  It 
was  pitiful,  and  it  was  wonderful,  how  she  mothered  those 
little  girls  and  boys,  who  cried  in  vain  for  the  mother,  the 
child's  best  friend,  who  would  never  come  back.  And  when 
we  got  to  the  cemetery,  and  they  lowered  the  body  into 
the  grave,  the  children  seemed  wild  with  grief;  and  the 
oldest  girl  went  up  and  down  the  line,  saying  to  this  one 
and  that  one:  "Do  not  cry.  Maybe  it  is  not  so.  Maybe 
it  is  all  a  dream.  Maybe  we  are  at  home  in  bed.  Maybe 
we  will  wake  up  in  the  morning  and  mother  will  be  with 
us  and  kiss  us,  like  she  always  did.  Maybe  it  is  not  so. 
Maybe  it  is  all  a  dream!"  Oh,  how  we  would  get  away 
from  death !  How  we  wish  we  might !  Every  man  needs 
a  refuge  against  death. 

And  every  man  needs  a  refuge  out  yonder  beyond  death, 
where  the  issues  of  conduct  and  character  are  going  to 
come  into  judgment  before  Christ.  Every  man  needs  a 
refuge  when  he  comes  to  that  day  of  days,  called  the  judg- 
ment day  of  God.  Now,  that  there  is  such  a  day  is  insisted 
upon  even  by  human  reason.  Human  reason  makes  its 
cry  that  somewhere  there  ought  to  be  a  place  for  explana- 
tion, for  revelation.  Somewhere  there  ought  to  be  a  place 
where  the  tangled  threads  shall  be  disentangled,  where  the 
irregularities   shall   be   straightened  out,  where  the  mys- 


344  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

teries  shall  be  interpreted  and  explained.  Every  man 
needs  a  refuge  at  that  great  day.  When  we  turn  to  the 
Word  of  God,  the  Holy  Book,  the  guide-book  for  men,  it 
is  clear  as  the  light  about  the  reality  of  a  judgment  day. 
Listen  to  it:  "God  hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which 
He  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  Jesus  Christ." 
Listen  to  it:  "We  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment 
seat  of  Christ."  Listen  to  it:  "We  must  every  one  give 
account  of  himself  to  God."  Surely,  my  brother  men,  when 
we  stand  at  that  great  assize,  at  that  day  of  judgment, 
every  man  of  us  will  need  a  refuge. 

Every  man  has  a  refuge  of  some  sort.  There  went 
through  this  country  some  years  ago  an  almost  matchless 
orator,  who  was  also  an  aggressive  opponent  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  I  need  not  speak  his  name.  No  man  should 
carelessly  speak  the  name  of  either  the  living  or  the  dead. 
This  brilliant  orator,  an  infidel,  went  up  and  down  the  land, 
caricaturing  Christians  and  their  faith,  but  he  had  his  ref- 
uge. He  began  one  of  his  most  caustic  addresses  with  the 
remark:  "So-and-so  and  so-and-so  is  my  religion."  He 
had  his  refuge.  Every  man,  my  brother  men,  has  a  refuge 
of  some  sort  for  himself,  something  that  he  falls  back  on, 
something  that  he  hopes  in,  something  in  which  he  trusts. 
Alas,  alas,  my  brothers,  full  many  a  time  the  peril  is  that 
the  man's  refuge  is  untrustworthy,  that  it  is  vain,  that  it 
is  false!  The  Bible  warns  us  at  that  point.  The  Bible 
tells  us  that  we  can  cry  peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no 
peace.  Jesus  himself  tells  us:  "Not  every  one  that  saith 
unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is 
in  heaven."  Jesus  tells  us  that,  and  then  He  goes  on  to 
tell  us  a  sentence  that  is  enough  to  make  every  man  of 
us  pause  and  search  our  hearts  and  shudder.  Listen  to  it. 
Jesus  says:  "Many  will  say  unto  me  in  that  day"  —  the 
day  of  judgment  —  "Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied 
in  thy  name?"  Were  we  not  preachers?  "Have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  cast  out  devils, 
and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works?  And  then 
will  I  profess  unto  them"  —  Jesus  is  speaking  —  "I  never 
knew  you.    Depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."    Oh, 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  345 

bow  serious  is  this  matter  of  our  meeting  that  final  test 
like  we  ought  to  meet  it,  and  of  our  having  a  refuge  suf- 
ficient in  that  hour  of  hours! 

And  now,  gentlemen,  it  is  an  all-important  matter  that 
we  be  able  to  detect  the  false  refuges  behind  which  Satan 
would  have  us  hide,  and  lure  us,  to  deceive  us  and  destroy 
us.     May  we  detect  these  false  refuges  for  the  soul?    We 
may.    There  are  certain  inexorable  tests  whereby  we  may 
detect  the  false  refuge  for  the  soul.    What  are  these  tests? 
For  the  moment,  I  will  lay  aside  the  Word  of  God,  the 
guide-book,  the  divine  revelation  for  human  conduct  and 
character  and  opinion,  and  I  will  come  to  certain  other  in- 
exorable human  tests  that  we  must  grapple  with.     If  our 
refuge  for  our  soul  be  trustworthy,  if  it  be  reliable,  if  it 
be  dependable,  if  it  will  suffice  us,  then  such  refuge  will 
meet  every  test,  no  matter  what  the  test  may  be.     If  the 
refuge  for  a  man's  soul  will  do  to  trust,  then  I  say  that 
such  refuge  will  meet  these  four  tests.    Look  at  these  tests. 
First  of  all,  it  will  satisfy  the  conscience.     I  have  al- 
ready indicated  what  an  exacting  test  the  conscience  makes. 
It  must  satisfy  the  man's  conscience,  if  a  man's  religious 
refuge,  whatever  it  is,  be  trustworthy  and  reliable.     Nor 
is  that  all.    If  a  man's  refuge  for  his  soul  be  trustworthy, 
then  it  must  make  his  life  better.     Mark  that.     A  tree  is 
known  by  its  fruits,  and  if  a  man's  religious  refuge  does  not 
make  his  life  better,  then  such  refuge  is  vain  and  false. 
Life  must  be  made  better  if  one's  religious  refuge  be  de- 
pendable.    And,  again,  if  a  man's  religious  refuge  be  de- 
pendable, it  will  fortify  such  man  and  uphold  him  in  the 
solemn  hour  when  he  comes  to  die,  when  all  the  masks 
are  off,  v/hen  all  the  guises  and  disguises  must  be  laid 
aside,  when  his  feet  dip  into  the  stream  separating  time 
and   eternity.     If  a  man's   refuge   for  his   soul  be  trust- 
worthy, it  must  be  one  that  will  suffice  him  when  his  feet 
touch  the  river  of  death,  and  the  mists  from  that  river 
come  up  into  his  face. 

Moreover,  if  a  man's  refuge  for  his  soul  will  do  to  tie 
to,  will  do  to  rely  upon,  then  such  refuge  must  completely 
fortify  a  man  out  vonder  at  the  judgment,  when  he  makes 


846  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

personal  answer  to  Christ,  as  every  man  of  us  must  make 
such  answer. 

What  are  some  of  the  false  refuges?  I  will  tell  you 
four.  There  are  many  more,  but  I  will  briefly  tell  you 
four,  and  these  four  are  representative — four  false  refuges 
that  lure  men  to  deception  and  darkness  and  death.  I  dealt 
with  four  men  recently,  in  another  place,  and  they  gave 
these  four  different  false  refuges,  behind  which  men  are 
lured,  and  by  which  men  are  deceived  and  lost.  The  first 
one  said :  "I  am  trusting  in  my  own  goodness.  Therefore, 
I  am  good  enough  in  myself  without  God's  help  at  all." 
His  refuge  for  himself,  for  his  soul,  was  his  own  goodness. 
Do  you  think  that  refuge  is  sufficient?  Will  that  refuge 
meet  the  tests?  Mind  you,  we  are  considering  four  great 
tests,  not  naming  the  fifth,  which  is  the  Book  of  God, 
which  I  leave  aside  for  the  present.  There  are  four  inex- 
orable tests  for  these  refuges  for  our  souls.  Now,  will  this 
false  refuge  I  have  just  named,  the  man's  own  personal 
goodness,  as  his  dependence  for  safety  and  salvation,  meet 
these  four  tests  I  have  just  named?  First,  will  it  satisfy 
his  own  conscience?  Is  your  conscience  satisfied,  and  is 
mine,  for  us  to  say:  *T  am  good  enough  without  God's 
help  at  all  ?"  Is  our  conscience  satisfied  to  say :  "No  mat- 
ter what  this  Bible  teaches,  and  no  matter  what  Jesus 
taught,  no  matter  though  He  died,  I  am  good  enough?" 
Does  that  satisfy  your  conscience  and  mine?  It  does  not 
satisfy  mine. 

I  pass  you  to  the  next  test.  Does  it  make  your  life 
better  to  say:  "I  am  trusting  to  my  own  goodness,  and 
I  will  discard  Christ  and  His  religion,  and  all  that?"  Does 
that  make  your  life  better?  And,  mind  you,  if  a  man's 
refuge  for  his  soul  does  not  make  his  life  better,  he  is  miss- 
ing the  road.  But  I  pass  you  to  the  next  test.  Will  it 
suffice  you  in  the  solemn  hour  when  you  shall  be  dying 
upon  your  couch,  and  let  us  fancy  that  I  shall  be  beside 
you,  and  take  your  hand,  and  say:  "My  friend,  do  you 
know  that  this  is  the  last  hour?"  Will  you  answer  me: 
"Yes,  I  know  it  well.  The  doctor  has  told  me,  and  I  am 
conscious  that  he  speaks  correctly."  And  I  shall  ask  you: 
"What  is  your  hope?"    Do  you  think  you  will  be  able  to 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  347 

look  me  smilingly  in  the  face,  and  say  to  me :  "Why,  man, 
I  am  good  enough !  You  need  not  pray,  nor  take  the  Bible, 
nor  talk  of  Christ.  I  am  good  enough?"  Do  you  think 
that  will  make  the  pillow  soft  when  a  man  comes  to  die, 
to  wave  Christ's  religion  away  with  his  hand,  and  say :  *T 
am  good  enough  without  it?" 

I  pass  you  to  the  other  great  test,  out  beyond  death. 
When  you  shall  answer  to  Jesus,  as  He  sits  upon  His 
judgment  throne,  as  every  man  of  us  must  personally  there 
answer  by  and  by,  do  you  think  it  will  suffice  you  to  say 
to  Him :  "I  am  here,  but  I  am  good  enough  without  you, 
or  your  gospel,  or  your  blood,  or  your  grace?"  Do  you 
suppose  that  any  sinner  of  all  the  earth  will  at  last  make 
such  a  presumptuous  plea  as  that  at  the  judgment  bar 
of  Christ?  No  man  will  say  it.  That  is  not  your  refuge, 
is  it? 

Then,  here  was  the  second  man's  false  refuge.  It  was 
just  the  opposite  of  this  first  man's  refuge.  The  second 
man  said:  "Oh,  well,  I  am  not  very  good;  I  am  quite 
frail,  and  know  it,  and  grant  it,  but  I  am  as  good  as  a  great 
many  around  me,  in  the  churches  and  out  of  them,  and 
therefore  I  will  just  let  it  go  at  that."  His  refuge  was  this : 
Not  his  own  goodness,  but  the  fact  of  other  people's 
badness.  Come,  gentlemen,  will  that  meet  these  four  great 
tests  I  have  named?  Does  it  satisfy  a  man's  conscience 
to  say:  "I  will  put  these  challenging  claims  of  Christ 
away,  because  a  great  many  other  men  have  done  the  same 
thing?"  Should  it  satisfy  a  man's  conscience,  and  can  it, 
to  say:  "I  will  not  pay  my  debts  to  the  doctor  or  the 
grocery  man  or  the  merchant  or  the  bank,  because  a  good 
many  other  people  evade  theirs,  and  won't  pay  theirs?" 
Does  it  satisfy  to  say:  "I  will  ignore  Jesus  and  put  Him 
away,  because  a  great  many  other  people  are  doing  the 
same  thing?" 

But  I  pass  you  to  the  next  test.  Does  it  make  your 
life  better  to  say:  "I  am  as  good  as  a  great  many  other 
people,  and  I  am  going  to  let  it  go  at  that,  and  pass  it 
all  by?" 

And  then  T  pass  you  to  the  next  great  test.  Does  i€ 
satisfy  you,  and  will  it,  when  you  come  to  the  solemn 


348  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

hour  of  death,  to  say:  "I  am  dying  without  Christ  and 
His  religion  and  His  comfort  and  strength,  because 
other  men  have  essayed  to  go  the  same  dark  way,  and 
I  am  going  just  as  they  have  gone?" 

And  then  that  other  test  that  awaits  you  beyond  death 
and  the  grave,  when  you  shall  answer  at  the  judgment 
seat  of  Christ,  will  it  suffice  you  then  to  say  to  Christ:  "I 
rejected  you.  Lord  Jesus,  and  put  you  away,  and  would 
not  have  you,  because  a  great  many  other  men  did  the 
same  thing?"    That  refuge  is  not  yours,  is  it? 

The  third  man  stated  this  as  his  refuge:  "I  do  not 
believe  any  of  it.  I  am  an  outright  and  downright  disbe- 
liever. I  reject  it  all."  Now,  come,  is  that  the  refuge  of  any 
man  here — unbelief?  No  matter  what  its  form,  infidelity^ 
atheism,  agnosticism,  materialism,  no  matter  what  its 
form — unbelief — does  that  meet  the  tests?  Let  us  see. 
Does  it  satisfy  your  conscience  to  say:  "I  reject  the  Bible 
and  reject  Jesus  both,  as  untrustworthy,  in  the  face  of  all 
that  the  Bible  has  done,  and  in  the  face  of  Christ's  influ- 
ence over  men,  great  and  small,  big  and  little.  I  reject  it 
all  as  untrustworthy?"  Does  that  satisfy  your  conscience? 
Then  I  pass  you  to  the  next  test.  Does  it  make  your  life 
better  to  say:  "Unbelief  is  the  refuge  for  my  soul?"  Does 
it  help  your  life  to  be  better?  And  to  the  next  test  I  bring 
you  quickly,  to  the  time  when  you  shall  depart  from  time 
into  death.  Are  you  able  to  contemplate  that  hour  with 
complacency  and  felicity,  saying:  "I  reject  Christ  and 
the  Bible,  and  all  that  they  offer  to  man,  because  I  do  not 
believe  any  of  it?"  And  then  I  pass  you  out  to  the  final 
test,  when  you  shall  answer  personally  to  Christ  himself 
at  His  judgment  bar.  How  will  you  answer  to  Him,  as 
each  man  of  us  must  personally  answer  by  and  by? 
When  you  answer  there  to  Him,  saying:  "My  theory,  my 
pilot,  my  defense,  my  refuge  was  unbelief.  I  rejected  all 
the  claims  and  teachings  of  Christ,  because  of  unbelief" — 
do  you  think  that  will  suffice  you?  When  you  stand  be- 
fore Him,  He  will  say  to  you  what  He  says  to  you  now, 
while  you  are  in  life,  in  the  flesh,  this  side  of  the  grave, 
here  in  earth's  battle :  "Whatever  your  unbelief,  you  may 
know  the  truth  about  Christ's  religion."     Do  I  speak  to 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  349 

some  man  in  this  audience  who  is  a  doubter?  Oh,  I  stretch 
out  to  him  a  friendly  hand!  I  know  something  of  the 
darkness  and  withering  power  of  doubt.  Do  I  speak  to 
some  man  who  doubts?  Let  me  pray  him  not  to  trifle 
with  his  doubts.  Somebody  has  well  said  that  doubt  is 
the  agony  of  some  earnest  soul,  or  it  is  the  trifling  of  some 
superficial  fool.  If  I  speak  to  some  man  who  doubts,  let 
me  pray  him  to  probe  his  doubts  clear  to  the  bottom,  and 
make  his  doubts  give  him  re-enforcement,  or  throw  them 
every  one  away.  Jesus  comes  to  you,  saying:  "No  mat- 
ter what  your  doubt,  no  matter  what  your  unbelief,  no 
matter  what  your  question,  no  matter  what  your  skepti- 
cism, if  you  will  just  be  candid  and  honest,  I  will  bring 
you  into  the  light,  and  you  shall  be  the  judge."  Listen 
to  His  clear  challenge,  which  now  I  quote  to  you.  What 
a  challenge  it  is !  Listen  to  it :  *Tf  any  man" — that  is  as 
broad  as  the  world,  as  comprehensive  as  humanity — "if 
any  man  willeth  to  do  the  will  of  God,"  says  Jesus,  "he 
shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God." 

Oh,  my  brother,  if  any  man  will  come  to  God  like  this : 
"Oh,  God,  if  there  be  one,  on  the  premise,  on  the  hypothe- 
sis that  there  is  one — I  don't  know — I  want  light.  If  thou 
hast  any  interest  in  my  getting  it,  and  if  thou  wilt  give 
light,  no  matter  how  it  comes,  I  will  follow  it,  no  matter 
where  it  leads,"  any  skeptic  on  the  earth  will  be  brought 
to  God,  if  he  will  follow  the  light  like  that. 

Some  time  ago,  two  of  the  world's  most  prominent 
skeptics  were  Gilbert  West  and  Lord  Littleton,  and  they 
were  two  of  the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  their  own  or 
any  age.  They  made  fun  of  Christianity,  whenever  they 
met.  By  and  by,  they  said:  "There  are  two  things  we 
must  e::plode,  and  then  we  will  have  the  Christian  religion 
all  tumbled  into  the  ditch,  and  nothing  will  be  left"  And 
these  were  the  two  things  they  said  they  would  have  to 
explode:  They  said  they  would  have  to  explain  away  the 
doctrine  that  Jesus  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third 
day,  as  the  Scriptures  teach,  and  they  would  have  to  ex- 
plain that  wonderful  m.an,  the  Apostle  Paul,  whose  influ- 
ence was  so  powerful  in  the  world  eighteen  centuries  even 
after  he  had  died.    Gilbert  West  said :    "I  will  explode  the 


350  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

resurrection  of  Christ  and  blow  it  all  up,"  and  Lord  Lit- 
tleton said :  "I  will  explain  Paul."  They  went  their  way, 
and  after  weeks  and  weeks,  by  appointment  they  came 
together  again,  and  Littleton  said:  "West,  what  have 
you  to  say?"  Gilbert  West  replied:  *'Oh,  Littleton,  I 
have  something  wonderful  to  tell  you.  When  I  came  to 
explode  the  doctrine  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  rose  from  the 
dead  on  the  third  day,  I  had  to  be  candid,  I  had  to  be 
sincere,  I  had  to  be  honest,  I  had  to  search  for  my  evi- 
dence. You  may  laugh  at  me,  Littleton,  if  you  will,  but 
when  I  looked  into  it  honestly,  my  mind  and  my  deepest 
soul  were  convinced  that  Jesus  did  rise  from  the  dead, 
and  I  prayed  to  Him,  and  He  saved  me,  and  I  am  His 
friend."  And  then  Lord  Littleton  answered:  "Thank 
God,  West!  I  have  something  just  as  wonderful  to  tell 
you.  When  I  came  to  explain  that  man  Paul,  and  get  rid 
of  him,  I,  too,  had  to  be  thorough  and  candid.  I  had  to 
search.  I  had  to  be  true.  And  you  will  rejoice  with  me. 
West,  when  I  tell  you  that  after  I  had  searched  and  studied 
about  Paul,  by  and  by  I  found  myself  down  on  my  knees, 
just  as  Paul  got  down  on  his  knees  on  that  Damascus  road, 
and  my  cry  was  his :  *Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?' 
And  I  am  a  Christian,  also.  West."  And  these  two  out- 
standing skeptics  became  two  of  the  world's  most  noted 
Christians,  and  have  written  two  of  the  noblest  apologies 
of  the  Christian  religion  that  have  ever  been  penned. 

Gentlemen,  the  Christian  religion  submits  to  the  scien- 
tific method  always,  and  that  is  the  method  of  personal 
experience.  My  brother  men,  you  will  not  think  I  am 
boasting — I  speak  it  to  the  praise  of  my  Savior:  One 
thing  I  know,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.  Once  I 
went  my  way  reading  law,  wanting  to  give  my  life  to  that 
high  calling.  One  of  earth's  noblest  callings  it  is.  And 
the  Master  crossed  my  path,  and  I  was  reminded  of  my 
sins,  and  I  went  to  Him  and  said :  "Have  mercy  on  me," 
and  He  did.  That  is  the  thing,  gentlemen,  that  I  know 
better  than  I  know  anything  else  in  the  world.  Oh,  men, 
unbelief  can  find  the  way  out!  Obedience  is  the  solvent 
of  every  doubt  in  the  world.  If  a  man  will  turn  to  Jesus 
and   say:    "Show  me   the   way,   and   I   will   walk   in   it. 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  351 

wherever  it  leads,  and  whatever  it  costs,"  he  will  be 
brought  in  the  right  way  safely  home  at  last. 

And  now  the  fourth  man,  the  last  man,  said:  "Well, 
here  is  my  refuge.  I  do  not  expect  any  man  to  be  lost. 
I  expect  every  man  to  be  saved  in  God's  fair  heaven  above, 
not  one  of  them  missing,  no  matter  what  his  crimes,  no 
matter  what  his  sins,  no  matter  what  the  wretchedness 
of  his  conduct  and  character."  That  was  his  refuge  — 
universal  salvation.  Now,  will  that  meet  the  tests?  I 
waive  the  Bible,  for  the  present.  The  Bible  speaks  plainly 
on  all  these  points,  but  I  waive  that  for  the  moment,  and 
I  come  to  other  grounds  for  the  present  moment.  Will 
that  meet  the  tests,  that  no  matter  how  a  man  lives  and 
sows  and  dies,  yet  all  is  well  out  there  beyond?  First, 
does  it  satisfy  a  man's  conscience  to  say  that  vice  and 
virtue  shall  have  the  same  reward?  Is  a  man's  conscience 
at  rest  to  say  that  this  good  man,  who  serves  God  and 
follows  Him,  shall  have  no  more,  and  nothing  different, 
from  the  man  who  does  not  serve  Him,  and  wastes  his 
life?  Is  the  man's  conscience  at  rest  to  say  that  they  shall 
have  the  same  harvest?  I  pass  to  the  next  test.  Does  it 
make  a  man's  life  better  here  and  now  to  say:  "No  mat- 
ter how  a  man  lives,  all  will  be  well  a  little  later,  beyond 
the  sunset  and  the  night?"  I  pass  you  to  the  third  test. 
Is  a  man  made  ready  for  the  solemn  hour  of  death  who 
says:  "I  can  sow  to  the  flesh,  and  give  absolute  license 
to  the  sins  of  my  life,  and  no  matter,  for  all  is  well  for 
me?"  Do  you  think  that  will  qualify  a  man  to  die  in 
peace,  when  the  hour  comes  for  him  to  go?  And  then 
beyond  death,  do  you  think  a  man  can  stand  up  yonder, 
before  the  face  of  Jesus,  who  said :  "I  came  to  the  earth 
to  die  for  sinners,  that  they  might  not  die  and  shall  not 
die,  if  they  will  repent  of  sin  and  turn  to  me" — do  you 
think  a  man  will  be  fortified  in  the  judgment  at  last  to 
say  to  Jesus:  "I  am  here  because  I  said,  I  taught,  and  I 
believed  that  no  matter  how  a  man  sowed,  the  harvest 
would  come  out  all  right?" 

Oh,  gentlemen,  you  vAW  not  talce  that  theory,  either. 
A  man  does  violence  to  all  law  and  to  all  philosophy,  un- 
less he  knows  that  as  a  man  sows,  so  must  he  reap.    If  a 


352  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

man  sows  wheat,  he  will  reap  wheat.  A  man  will  not  sow 
one  thing  and  reap  another.  If  one  man  comes  humbly, 
despite  all  his  weaknesses,  and  gives  his  case  to  Christ, 
Christ  will  be  his  friend  and  helper.  If  a  second  man 
'says:  "None  of  it  for  me;  I  will  put  it  away,"  the  two 
men  cannot  have  the  same  result.  They  cannot  have  the 
same  harvest.  And  your  own  conscience,  your  own  judg- 
ment, and  all  law,  and  all  philosophy,  rise  up  with  the  cry 
that  as  men  sow,  so  shall  they  reap. 

There  is  a  law  of  physical  gravity  in  the  physical  world, 
but  it  is  no  more  real  than  the  law  of  moral  gravity  in 
the  moral  world.  Every  man,  gentlemen,  when  he  comes 
to  die,  "shall  go  to  his  own  place."  If  he  continues  in  the 
wrong  road  here,  the  wrong  road  there  will  be  his  portion. 
If  he  chooses  the  right  road  here,  the  right,  there,  will  be 
his  portion. 

Now,  this  man  who  speaks  our  text,  tried  the  false 
refuges,  and  this  is  his  cry  when  he  tried  them:  "Refuge 
failed  me.  Refuge  fled  away  from  me.  Refuge  broke 
down.  Refuge  could  not  suffice  me.  The  bridge  went 
down.     The  physician  could  not  help." 

What  are  we  to  do?  Nowhere,  gentlemen,  in  all  this 
vast  world,  is  there  a  human  refuge  ample  for  a  human 
soul.  Nowhere,  human  and  earthly,  is  there  a  refuge  suf- 
ficient for  the  human  soul.  What  shall  we  do  about  it? 
Is  there  any  door  of  hope  in  the  valley  of  Achor?  Is  there 
any  gate  through  which  a  man  may  pass,  and  have  deliv- 
erance and  safety? 

Oh,  where  shall  rest  be  found. 

Rest  for  a   weary  soul? 
'Twere  vain  the  ocean's  depths   to  sound, 

Or  pierce  to  either  pole. 
Beyond  this  vale  of  tears 

There  is  a   life   above, 
Unmeasured   by    the   flight   of  years. 

And   all   that   life   is   love. 
There  is  a  death  verbose  pang 

Outlasts    this    fleeting    breath. 
Oh,   what  eternal  horrors  hang 

Around  man's  second  death  J 
Lord    God   of  truth   and   grace, 

Teach    us    that    death    to    shun. 
Lest  we  be  banished  from  thy  face 

And  evermore  undone. 

Come,  my  brother  men,  is  there  any  refuge  sufficient 
for  you  and  for  me?    Is  there  any  balm  in  Gilead  ample 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  353 

for  us?  Is  there  any  physician  anywhere  that  can  take 
me  and  take  care  of  me,  a  sinful,  eternity-bound  man?  Is 
there  any  door  of  hope  in  the  valley  of  Achor  for  you  and 
for  me  ?  Thank  God,  there  is !  There  is  a  refuge  sufficient 
for  us,  and  here  it  is,  and  I  bring  you  to  it.  This  man 
said:  "Refuge  failed  me,  fled  away  from  me,  broke  down, 
could  not  suffice  me."  Now  listen  to  him :  "Then  I  turned 
to  the  Lord,  and  I  said  to  the  Lord,  Thou  shalt  be  my 
refuge." 

Oh,  he  is  on  terra  firma  now!  He  is  on  sure  founda- 
tions now.  I  turned  away  from  these  refuges  that  misled 
me,  false  and  illusory  and  deceiving  and  insufficient,  and 
I  turned  to  the  Lord,  and  I  said:  "Lord,  I  will  surrender 
to  you,  that  you  may  be  my  refuge  forever."  Gentlemen, 
the  Lord  meets  all  the  tests.  Of  course.  He  meets  the 
test  of  the  Bible,  for  He  gave  the  Bible  to  us,  and  is  in- 
separably linked  with  it,  but  He  meets  all  these  other 
tests.  Every  test  you  can  think  of  for  a  human  soul,  no 
matter  how  bedarkened  and  sinful,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
meets  it. 

I  will  show  you  that  He  meets  these  four  inexorable 
tests  that  I  have  just  described.  First,  the  Lord  Jesus 
satisfies  the  human  conscience.  We  sowed  to  the  flesh. 
We  went  to  the  bad.  We  sinned.  We  went  the  wrong 
road.  Every  man  of  us  has  come  short  of  God's  glory. 
Not  a  perfect  man  is  there  in  all  this  group,  or  in  all  the 
world,  and  our  consciences  know  it.  Jesus  comes  to  us, 
saying:  "You  submit  your  case  to  me.  I  died,  the  just, 
for  you,  the  unjust.  If  you  will  submit  your  case  to  me, 
if  you  will  give  up  to  me,  if  you  will  be  for  me,  if  you  will 
say  yes  to  me,  and  mean  it;  if  you  will  surrender  to  me, 
I  will  take  care  of  your  conscience."  And  though  we  have 
sinned  and  come  short  of  God's  glory,  we  can  be  at  peace, 
because  Jesus,  to  whom  we  yield,  speaks  peace  to  our  con- 
science. Paul  would  have  gone  with  a  ball  and  chain 
about  him,  but  for  the  fact  that  he  gave  up  to  Jesus,  and 
Jesus  said:  "My  blood  forgives  and  sets  you  free.  Let 
Satan  clamor  and  let  him  accuse.  I  do  the  saving,  and  I 
will  take  care  of  you." 


354  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

Jesus  meets  the  next  test.  He  helps  a  man  to  live.  I 
would  be  found  a  false  witness  to-day,  if  I  did  not  declare 
to  you  men  that  He  is  helping  our  Christian  men  to  live. 
I  can  prove  it  by  these  hundreds  of  men  before  me.  A 
big  fellow  lost  his  property  the  other  day,  and  he  was  a 
pauper,  whereas  twenty-four  hours  before  he  was  counted 
a  rich  man.  I  went  to  him  and  said:  "What  have  you 
now  to  say?"  He  bowed  his  head  and  said:  "Wife  and 
I  did  not  sleep  last  night,  but,  oh,  sir,  we  have  Christ  left, 
and  why  should  we  grumble?  Christ  is  our  Savior."  I 
saw  a  toiling  carpenter  the  other  day  put  away  his  wife's 
body  in  the  grave,  and  she  left  six  children,  and  they  cried 
from  morning  till  night,  after  the  mother  that  could  not 
come  back.  What  so  wrings  the  heart  as  the  cry  of  a 
bairn  for  its  mother,  who  will  never  come  back  to  the 
child?  I  laid  my  arm  in  this  carpenter's  hand,  and  we 
went  away  into  the  other  room,  and  the  babies  gathered 
around  us,  and  when  I  had  quieted  them  the  best  I  could, 
I  said :  "I  am  going  to  pray  that  God  will  help  us."  And 
I  prayed,  and  when  I  had  finished,  he  turned  to  the  chil- 
dren and  said:  "Children,  we  are  going  to  be  brave  and 
strong.  Papa  has  peace  in  his  heart.  Jesus  is  going  to 
help  us ;  papa  is  trusting  Jesus,  and  ^ou  children  are  going 
to  follow  papa  as  he  trusts  Christ  and  serves  Him."  And 
the  oldest  little  boy  said :  "Papa,  I  am  going  to  trust  Him 
now."  And  then  it  seemed  that  the  night  was  turned  into 
day,  and  the  shadow  of  death  was  turned  into  morning. 
Oh,  men,  Christ  fortifies  us  when  the  black  Friday  comes ! 

And  He  will  help  us  to  die.  You  recall  the  recent  let- 
ter from  one  of  the  chaplains  on  the  far  field  of  battle,  tell- 
ing how  one  of  the  fine  Christian  boys  died  there  a  few 
weeks  ago.  He  was  torn  by  shot  and  shell,  his  head 
frightfully  torn,  and  yet  for  hours  he  was  conscious,  but 
he  grew  steadily  worse,  as  he  lay  there  dying  on  his  cot. 
Presently  his  mind  wandered,  and  he  imagined  that  the 
chaplain,  who  was  comforting  him,  was  his  mother,  and 
the  dying  boy  said  so  tenderly:  "Mother,  put  your  dear, 
soft  hands  under  my  head.  It  hurts  me  so,  and  your  soft 
hands  will  make  it  better."  The  chaplain  did  just  like  the 
mother  would  have  done,  the  best  he  could,  and  then  the 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  355 

dying  boy  said:  "Mother,  bend  over  me.  You  taught 
me  the  way  to  live,  and  I  am  ready  to  die.  Bend  over 
me  and  kiss  me  once  more,  mother,  and  then  I  will  pray 
my  last  prayer  and  leave  all  to  Christ,  for  I  am  not  afraid 
to  die."  And  the  chaplain  did  just  what  you  or  I  would 
have  done.  He  bent  over  the  boy  and  kissed  him  as  nearly 
like  a  mother  as  he  could.  And  the  boy  faintly  said: 
"Thank  you,  mother.  Now  let  me  tell  Jesus  as  I  am  dying 
that  I  will  just  lean  on  Him,  for  I  leaned  on  Him  back 
yonder,  months  and  years  ago,  and  now  I  am  not  afraid." 
Yes,  my  brother  men,  Jesus  helps  us  to  die. 

There  is  more  yet  to  be  said.  He  is  going  to  help  us 
yonder  at  the  judgment.  Let  us  imagine  that  this  audience 
of  men  is  now  assembled  at  the  judgment  bar  of  God. 
What  are  you  going  to  plead  there?  What  am  I  going 
to  plead?  I  will  tell  you  what  I  shall  say  when  I  get 
there:  "Lord,  I  am  not  good  in  myself.  I  did  not  plead 
myself,  Lord  Jesus,  on  earth.  In  Fort  Worth  I  said: 
'Other  refuge  have  I  none,  hangs  my  helpless  soul  on 
thee.'  Lord  Jesus,  on  earth  I  said  that  I  trusted  my  case 
wholly  to  thee,  and  here  at  the  judgment  thou  art  my 
refuge."  And  I  shall  pass  to  Christ's  right  hand,  and  all 
will  be  well  forever. 

Come,  my  brother  men,  I  would  take  the  hand  of  every 
one  of  you,  and  look  up  into  your  faces  and  say:  "My 
brothers,  come  now  to  Christ,  before  we  leave  this  build- 
ing." Oh,  my  brother  men,  do  you  say  to  me:  "Sir,  I 
can  lay  my  hand  on  my  heart  and  tell  you  that  Christ  is 
now  my  refuge;  that  fact  is  settled?"  Every  man  here 
that  says :  "I  can  lay  my  hand  on  my  heart  and  truthfully 
say  to  you  and  to  these  comrades  about  me  that  I  am  rely- 
ing on  Christ  as  my  refuge,  I  have  already  received  Him 
for  my  Savior,"  will  please  lift  his  right  hand,  this  mo- 
ment.   I  see  you.    That  is  a  sight  to  move  us  profoundly. 

But  before  I  let  you  go,  I  come  to  ask:  Are  there  men 
here  who  personally  say:  "I  am  wrong  v/ith  God?"  It 
may  be  that  you  are  in  some  church,  or  never  were  in  a 
church,  a  professor  of  religion,  or  never  a  professor  of 
religion,  but  now  you  say:  "I  am  wrong  with  God.  To- 
day I  tell  you,  and  these  men  about  me,  that  I  want  Christ 


356  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

for  my  refuge.  I  want  it  to  be  well  with  my  soul  here 
and  hereafter.  I  want  Christ  to  be  my  refuge  in  His  own 
way  and  time."  Every  man  here  who  says:  *'I  want 
Christ  for  my  refuge,  for  I  am  wrong  with  God,"  will 
please  tell  us  so,  just  now.  I  want  you  to  be  candid,  like 
these  Christians  were,  and  tell  us  so.  I  will  now  look 
slowly  over  this  audience,  from  the  right  to  the  left,  to 
see  the  uplifted  hand  of  the  man  who  says:  "I  lift  my 
hand  to  tell  you  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me,  for  I  want 
Christ  for  my  refuge,  before  it  is  too  late.  I  am  wrong 
with  Him,  but  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me,  that  I  may  be 
right  with  God,  in  His  own  time  and  way." 

(In  tense  silence  many  men  lifted  their  hands.) 
My  heart  is  deeply  moved,  my  brother  men,  that  so 
many  of  you  candidly  tell  us  of  your  desire  to  be  right 
with  God.  Settle  the  matter  to-day.  Oh,  the  grandeur  of 
decision!  Interested  men,  purposeful  men,  living  men, 
dying  men,  eternity-bound  men,  needy  men,  sinful  and  sin- 
ning men,  my  brother  men,  knowing  what  I  know,  if  I 
were  in  your  place,  I  would  end  the  battle  to-day  and  stop 
my  delay.  This  day  I  would  take  the  supreme  step  and 
say:  "I  surrender  my  life  to  Christ."  Remember  that 
waiting  does  not  do  any  good.  Waiting  cannot  help.  Wait- 
ing is  the  very  thing  that  Satan  wants  you  to  do.  Say 
it :  "I  surrender  my  life  to  Christ.  I  am  a  duty-neglecting, 
wandering,  backslidden  Christian.  Something  turned  me 
away.  Something  set  me  drifting."  No  matter  what  it 
was,  nor  when,  you  find  yourself  now  drifting,  and  neg- 
lecting duty,  but  your  conscience  is  alert  this  hour,  and 
you  say:  "I  do  not  want  to  keep  this  evil  course.  I  do 
not  want  to  continue  in  this  wrong  and  hurtful  way.  To- 
day I  want  to  take  a  great  step  forward  and  upward  and 
surrender  my  life  to  Christ."  Do  you  say:  "That  is  my 
case?"  Then  I  pray  you,  just  surrender  yourself,  3''our  all, 
this  hour,  to  Christ.  I  am  going  to  ask  if  every  interested 
man  here  will  not  settle  the  matter  to-day.  Here  are 
scores  of  men  who  tell  us :  "We  are  wrong  with  God,  but 
wish  to  be  right."  Some  of  them  are  duty-neglecting, 
backslidden  Christians.  Many  others  have  never  been  for 
Christ  at  all.      I  am  going  to  ask  all  thes€,  my  brother 


THE  ONE  SUFFICIENT  REFUGE  357 

men— you  will  now  act  just  as  you  think  you  ought,  and 
you  are  not  to  feel  at  all  embarrassed  by  the  proposition 
I  am  going  to  make.  I  would  have  you  follow  your  own 
judgment  and  conscience,  as  I  ask  you,  if  every  interested 
man  in  this  room  is  not  willing  to  stand  before  us  all  to- 
day and  say :  "God  help  me,  because  it  is  my  duty,  because 
it  is  my  need,  because  of  my  danger,  because  of  happi- 
ness, because  of  influence,  because  of  time,  because  of 
eternity,  because  of  life  and  death  and  the  judgment  and 
the  issues  of  eternity,  I  am  both  willing  and  ready  to-day 
and  now  to  stand  to  say,  I  do  now  surrender  my  life  to 
Christ,  that  He,  in  His  own  way,  may  forgive  me  and  be 
my  refuge  and  strength  forever."  Every  man  in  this  room 
who  can  stand  on  that  proposition  will  do  so  now. 

(The  vast  audience  was  profoundly  moved,  as  many 
men  rose  to  their  feet.) 

Just  a  moment  do  I  wait,  for  nearly  all  the  men  are  on 
their  feet.  My  brother,  I  call  to  you  yet  again  for  just  a 
moment,  not  to  embarrass  you — God  forbid! — but  to  help 
you.  I  would  come  and  kneel  at  your  feet  if  that  would 
help  you,  and  if  that  were  proper.  I  want  to  ask  you  if 
there  are  not  other  men  who  can  stand  in  this  decisive 
hour?  My  appeal  is  to  your  judgment  and  conscience.  I 
have  no  respect  for  any  other  kind  of  appeal  in  my  Mas- 
ter's name.  Does  still  another  man  rise  to  his  feet  to  say: 
*T  will  surrender?"  There  stands  another.  Does  yet  an- 
other stand,  saying:  "I  am  ready  to-day  to  make  my  sur- 
render to  Christ,  and  leave  the  case  with  Him?"  I  search 
the  balcony.  I  wait  a  moment.  Does  another  in  the  bal- 
cony stand,  saying:  "That  is  my  case?"  I  see  you,  my 
brother.  Does  another?  There  stands  another  man.  Does 
another  man  stand,  saying:  "That  is  my  case?"  God  be 
praised ! 

THE   CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  Lord,  'before  we  go  our  ways,  O,  we  pray  thee  that  this  army  of 
men  who  have  heretofore  followed  Christ  may  be  better  Christians  from  to-day 
than  ever — far  better.  But  here  are  numbers  and  numbers  who  stand  with  us 
to-day  to  say  that  from  this  day  they  will  follow  Christ.  O  God,  forgive  and 
guide,  and  keep  them  all.  They  may  be,  some  of  them — thou  knowest — duty- 
neglecting  Christians,  lapsed  church  members.  This  or  that  or  something  else 
has  turned  them  from  the  right  path.  They  have  gone  away  from  thee  and  the 
darkness  came,  and  doubts  came.  They  have  drifted  from  thee,  and  have  gone 
away  as  they  should  not  have  done.  But  to-day  they  wish  to  be  right  with  thee, 
and  return  to  thee,  and  to  do  their  duty.  Grant  that  from  this  hour  they  may 
go  and  do  aad  say  and  be  in  thy  sight  just  as  thou  wouldst  have  at  their  hands. 


358  —A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

And  then,  here  are  men  who  to-day  stand  with  us  to  say :  "To-day  we  take 
our  places  with  Christ's  people.  To-day  we  surrender  to  Clirist.  To-day  we  see 
the  truth  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ,  that  salvation  is  by  grace,  that  it  can- 
not be  by  what  we  will  do,  or  by  what  any  human  instrumentality  shall  do  for 
us,  but  Christ  alone  can  save,  He  alone  must  be  our  refuge,  and  to-day  we  sur- 
render to  Christ.  From  to-day  we  will  follow  Him."  Lord,  from  to-day,  may 
they  humbly  follow   Christ  forever. 

And  then  there  are  some  who  are  not  ready  yet  to  follow  thee.  Lord,  we 
breathe  our  most  fervent  prayer  for  them.  Speak  to  their  minds,  speak  to  their 
judgments.  Speak  to  their  wills,  the  initial  springs  of  human  action.  Speak  to 
their  consciences.  Oh,  bring  to  bear  upon  them  such  mighty  motives  as  move 
serious  men  to  make  mighty  decisions.  Oh,  grant  that  these  men,  all  and  each, 
who  do  not  find  themselves  ready  to  take  the  great  step  right  now,  grant  that 
the  hours  may  be  just  a  few,  that  even  this  very  day,  before  they  sleep,  that 
every  man  will  be  gladly  ready  to  say  from  his  heart:  "To-day  is  my  crisis  day, 
my  epochal  day.  To-day  I  make  the  surrender  of  my  life  to  Christ,  consenting 
that  He  may  be  my  refuge  to-day  and  to-morrow  and  forever." 

Oh,  bless  with  God's  own  gracious  blessing  this  vast  group  of  men,  and  their 
brother  men  throughout  Fort  Worth,  every  man  in  the  city,  in  every  place,  how- 
ever high,  however  low.  Bless  all  and  each,  and  through  these  men  may  the 
kingdom  of  God  be  brought  in  in  Fort  Worth,  and  in  the  great  West  and  around 
the  world. 

And  as  you  go  now,  may  the  blessing  of  God,  bright  like  the  light  when  the 
morning  dawneth,  and  gracious  as  the  dew  when  the  eventide  cometb,  be  granted 
you  all  and  each,  to  abide  with  you  forever.     Amen. 


f 


XXIV 

NIGHT  SERVICE,  JUNE  24,  1917. 
PRELIMINARY  REMARKS. 

This  vast  press  of  people  will  co-operate,  I  am  glad 
to  believe,  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  to  turn  this  last 
service  to  the  best  profit.  And  since  it  is  the  last  service 
of  these  brief  meetings,  I  should  like  to  be  indulged  to 
make  two  or  three  general  remarks.  The  first  is  an  ex- 
pression of  very  keen  regret  that  I  cannot  at  this  time, 
midsummer  though  it  is,  tarry  for  several  weeks  in  daily 
special  meetings,  with  these  two  beloved  pastors  and  their 
noble  congregations,  whose  guest  I  have  been  these  sev- 
eral days.  Duty  that  I  cannot  in  conscience  put  aside 
makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  tarry  longer  than  this  eve- 
ning service.  I  shall  cherish  the  very  gracious  invitations 
pressed  upon  me  to  come  again  for  an  extended  meeting, 
and  shall  most  gladly  avail  myself  of  that  invitation  at 
the  earliest  time  that  duty  will  allow.  Meetings  in  a 
modern  city  like  this  should  be  continued  for  weeks  and 
weeks,  that  the  attention  of  the  pressing  throngs  of  people 
may  be  awakened  and  called  to  the  highest  things. 

I  would  also  be  indulged  in  the  expression  of  profound- 
est  gratitude  again  to  the  two  churches  and  their  pastors, 
who  have  been  so  considerate  of  the  visiting  preacher,  and 
to  the  many  others  outside  of  these  two  congregations, 
who  have  been  so  courteous  and  beautiful  in  their  co- 
operation.    How  it  has  touched   all  our  hearts  that  the 

859 


360  PRELIMINARY  REMARKS 

great  daily  papers  of  Fort  Worth  have,  without  stint, 
given  themselves  to  setting  forth  the  great  things  of  re- 
ligion during  these  passing  days.  God  bless  them,  I  pray, 
and  crown  them  with  constantly  increasing  usefulness! 

I  would  earnestly  add  this  further  word:  Though  the 
public  meetings  close  this  evening,  yet  I  pray,  and  am 
very  glad  to  believe,  that  the  work  and  influence  of  these 
meetings  shall  go  graciously  and  powerfully  on,  in  lives 
all  about  you,  with  the  days  and  weeks  and  months  and 
years  before  you.  The  most  earnest  word  that  I  can  speak 
would  I  speak  to  these  mature  and  older  Christians.  Take 
this  occasion,  as  parents,  and  as  teachers,  and  as  neighbors, 
and  as  friends  and  acquaintances,  to  help  the  people  all 
about  you  in  the  higher  and  better  way.  There  are  many 
during  these  days  who  have  become  Christians,  through 
God's  grace.  They  need  to  take  their  places  with  the  peo- 
ple of  God  in  His  church.  You  are  to  counsel,  cheer  and 
help  them  now.  I  beg  you  to  remember  it.  It  is  a  tragedy 
for  a  Christian  not  to  be  in  the  church  with  the  people  of 
God.  All  about  you  there  are  timid,  untaught,  young  Chris- 
tians, young  people  who  have  recently  made  their  decision 
for  Christ.  Very  glad,  indeed,  was  I  to  hear  that  numbers,  a 
week  ago  to-day,  took  their  places  in  the  churches,  and  still 
others  again  this  morning.  So  I  pray  that  it  may  continue 
to  be  in  the  immediate  future,  after  a  noble  fashion.  Help 
the  young  Christian  now,  timid  and  shrinking,  and  greatly 
in  need  of  counsel.  Help  that  Christian,  who,  for  one  cause 
or  another,  has  been  bewitched  away  from  the  right  path. 
Something  came  to  trouble  him.  Something  came  to  turn 
his  feet  away  from  the  right  road.  Something  came,  may- 
be, to  make  his  heart  bitter.  Something  came  to  raise  ques- 
tions that  have  perplexed  and  hurt  the  heart.  Oh,  now,  I 
pray  you,  my  fellow  Christians,  help  that  Christian ! 

And  then,  there  are  all  about  you  undecided  men  and 
women,  and  young  people,  who  have  come  near  the  king- 
dom these  days.  That  expression  of  Christ,  I  have  no  doubt, 
applies  to  many  of  them:  "Notwithstanding,  be  sure  of 
this,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  has  come  nigh  unto  you." 
These  hesitating  ones  need  your  best  help — the  boy,  the 
giH,  the  young  man  or  woman,  the  father,  the  mother,  the 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    361 

citizen,  the  neighbor,  all  about  you.  The  right  word  needs 
to  be  said  now,  and  said  in  the  right  temper,  that  these 
may  see  how  sane  it  is,  how  wise  it  is,  how  glorious  it  is, 
to  be  friends  and  followers  of  Christ. 

THE  PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY. 

Text:  "And  when  He  was  come  near,  He  beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  it, 
saying,  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes." — Luke  19:41,  42. 

And  now,  as  I  come  to  the  message  of  this  evening, 
and  look  over  this  vast  throng,  I  find  my  heart  touched  with 
the  most  compassionate  interest  for  the  people.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  world  that  so  appeals  to  me  as  a  human 
face.  And  what  a  vast  press  of  faces  look  up  into  my 
face  in  this  gathering  of  thousands  of  people.  Oh,  how  I 
covet  you  every  one  for  Christ  Jesus!  What  tragedy  is 
comparable  to  the  tragedy  of  a  wasted  life !  Jesus  not  only 
would  save  the  soul,  bringing  you  home  to  heaven  at  last — 
Jesus  vv^ould  save  your  life  here  and  now,  in  the  flesh,  in 
the  earth,  and  have  you  positionized  properly  now.  I  lift 
up  my  voice  to  beg  you,  for  your  own  sake,  oh,  soul,  not 
yet  openly  positionized  for  Christ,  and  then  for  the  sake 
of  lives  you  shall  daily  touch,  to  give  heed  and  face  faith- 
fully this  biggest  question  of  all — ^your  own  right  relation 
to  Christ  Jesus.  I  would  speak  this  evening  on  this  ex- 
ceedingly solemn  theme:  "The  Passing  of  Religious  Op- 
portunity." It  is  suggested  by  this  solemn  text,  from  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  Luke:  "And  when  He  was  come 
near,  He  beheld  the  city" — the  city  of  Jerusalem — "and 
wept  over  it,  saying,  If  thou  hadst  known" — or  if  thou 
hadst  recognized  —  "the  things  which  belong  unto  thy 
peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes." 

The  text  suggests  the  solemn  word  that  I  am  to  leave 
with  you — the  passing  of  religious  opportunity.  Tears  are 
always  touching — genuine  and  sincere  tears.  You  are  of 
a  strange  make-up  if  you  should  see  the  genuine  tears  of 
a  little  child,  and  not  be  moved  by  that  sight.  And  how 
moving  is  the  sight  of  the  tears  of  a  strong  man,  no  matter 
what  the  emotion  that  grips  the  heart!  Here  in  our  text 
we  have  a  picture  of  the  Savior,  our  Divine  Lord,  sobbing 
out  His  great  heart,  as  He  looks  over  the  city,  His  own 


362  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

country's  fair  city,  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  There  must  have 
been  a  compelling  reason  why  Jesus  thus  wept,  as  He 
looked  over  the  city.  There  was  such  a  reason,  and  the 
text,  with  its  context,  faithfully  indicates  what  that  reason 
was!  The  reason  was  that  many  of  the  people  in  that 
city  of  Jerusalem  had  allowed  their  religious  opportunity  ] 
to  go  by  unimproved.  They  had  neglected  it.  The  things 
of  light  and  leading  and  love  from  God  had  all  been  over- 
looked. Jesus  had  taught  and  had  called,  but  they  had 
gone  on  unheeding,  and  so  His  compassionate  heart  over- 
flowed through  His  eyes,  and  we  have  here  the  picture 
of  Him  sobbing  over  the  fact  of  the  passing  of  religious 
opportunity.  Isn't  that  a  fearful  possibility  in  a  human 
life,  that  religious  opportunity,  gracious  and  precious,  may 
come  and  may  go  by,  and  may  be  returnless  forevermore? 
Satan  does  not  care  if  men  and  women  come  to  the  house 
of  God,  and  to  public  services  such  as  these,  and  are  at- 
tentive and  serious  and  deeply  moved,  if  only  they  will 
let  the  religious  opportunity  pass,  and  be  unimproved.  Oh, 
dreadful  possibility,  that  religious  opportunity  may  come 
and  pass  by,  and  the  highest  things  of  the  soul  be  lost 
and  forfeited  forever ! 

Jesus,  who  visited  the  earth  once  in  the  flesh,  visits 
men  and  women  yet,  not  in  His  flesh,  as  of  old,  but  in  the 
person  and  by  the  power  of  His  own  Divine  Spirit.     He 
himself  told  us  that  when  He  went  away  He  would  send 
that  Spirit,  to  teach  of  the  things  that  He  said  and  says, 
and  show  them  to  the  children  of  men.    Jesus  says:     "It 
is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away ;  for  if  I  go  not  away, 
the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you;   but  if  I  depart,  I 
will  send  Him  unto  you.    And  when  He  is  come,  He  will 
reprove  the  world   of  sin,   and   of  righteousness,   and  ofl 
judgment."       The  great  work  of  God  the  Holy  Spirit  ini 
the  world  is  to  comfort  and  counsel  God's  people,  and  to 
bring  to  bear  conviction  upon  the  human  judgment  and 
conscience,  that  by  such  light  and  conviction  sinners  mavr 
be  turned  into  the  upper  and  better  way.  ^ 

Mark  you  this,  my  men  and  women  ?  Every  inclination 
that  the  soul  has  to  come  to  God,  every  longing  in  your 
spirit  to  be  right  with  God,  and  to  be  forgiven  of  Him,  and 

i 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    363 

to  be  saved  by  Him,  is  the  direct  drawing,  the  direct  work, 
of  God's  good  Spirit  on  the  human  heart.    The  desire  to 
be  right  with  God  does  not  come  from  the  human  flesh. 
The  desire  to  be  right  with  God,  to  have  one's  sins  for- 
given, to  be  saved,  is  the  direct  drawing  of  the  good  Spirit 
of  God  himself.    And  remember  this,  I  pray  you,  that  no 
rational  soul  shall  ever  come  to  God  unless  the  Divine 
Spirit  shall  draw  him,  shall  counsel  him,  shall  convict  him 
of  need,  and  shall  himself  work  that  desire  to  come  in  the 
human   heart.     Jesus  yet  visits  men   in  the  person  and 
power  of  His  Spirit.    How  does  He  visit  them?    He  comes 
in  early  life  probably  to  most  people,   with  the  call  of 
heaven,  the  call  of  grace,  the  call  of  salvation.     One  of 
the   serious   questions  for  parents  and  teachers  is.  How 
early  do  our  children  reach  the  age  of  personal  accounta- 
bility, and  when  do  they  reach  the  line  of  accountability, 
so  that  they  must  personally  pass  on  these  questions  of 
right  and  wrong,  of  God's  light  and  counsel?    Where  and 
when  do  they  reach  that  line?     Blessed  is  the  teaching 
that  our  little  ones,  dying  before  they  reach  that  line  of 
personal   accountability  to   God,  are  taken  to   His  home 
above,  through  the  riches  of  His  own  mercy  and  grace. 
We  are  not  anxious  about  our  little  ones  who  die  before 
they  can  personally  pass  on  these  big  questions   of  re- 
pentance and  faith  and  coming  to  God.     All  is  well  with 
them.     Ye  parents,  be  not  disturbed  at  that  point.     Our 
concern  is,   How  old  are  children  when   they  reach  the 
line  of  personal  accountability,  where,  if  they  die  unre- 
pentant and  unbelieving,  they  shall  die  like  the  adult  who 
dies  unrepentant  and  unbelieving?    Very  early  in  life,  evi- 
dently, God's  Spirit  comes  to  many  of  our  children,  coun- 
seling and  calling  them  in  the  better  and  upper  way. 

And  then  very  many  are  the  ways  which  God  employs 
to  counsel  and  call  men  and  women  into  the  upward  way. 
One  of  God's  mightiest  ways  is  to  call  the  people  by  the 
right  kind  of  preaching.  There  can  be  no  substitutes  for 
the  right  kind  of  preaching.  The  Bible  tells  us  so.  "Faith 
Cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  Word  of  God.  How 
shall  the  people  hear  without  a  preacher?"  The  Bible 
tells  us  that  "it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preach- 


364  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

ing  to  save  them  that  believe/*  He  did  not  say  '^by  fool- 
ish preaching."  There  is  untold  harm  done  by  foolish 
preaching.  He  said:  "It  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness 
of  preaching" — by  as  simple  a  thing  as  preaching,  by  the 
method  of  preaching,  by  a  man  saved  by  grace  as  I  am 
saved,  and  as  these  honored  men  about  me  are  saved,  and 
called  by  God*s  Spirit  thus  to  witness  for  Christ.  It  pleased 
God  by  as  simple  a  thing  as  this,  for  a  man  saved  by  God's 
grace  and  set  apart  by  His  Spirit  to  be  a  preacher,  to  stand 
up  and  call  to  his  fellow-men :  "Ho,  every  one  that  thirst- 
eth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money; 
come  ye,  buy  and  eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk  with- 
out money  and  without  price."  How  marvelous  is  God's 
way  of  turning  men  and  women  into  the  upward  way,  by 
preaching ! 

But  preaching  is  not  His  only  method.  God  has  many 
methods  to  call  the  people  into  the  upward  way!  How 
great  is  the  message  and  the  blessing  of  the  right  kind 
of  a  teacher,  and  the  right  kind  of  a  writer!  How  much 
God  employs  such  to  bless  the  world!  And  how  marvel- 
ous is  God's  employment  of  the  modest  mother,  shrinking 
and  timid,  but  who  puts  the  serious  things  of  God  and 
His  truth  into  the  deepest  hearts  of  her  little  ones  who 
rest  on  her  breast,  and  who  kneel  beside  her,  as  she  teaches 
them  to  lisp  the  name  of  Jesus !  How  marvelous  that  in- 
strumentality, the  instrumentality  of  the  parent,  to  bring 
people  in  the  right  way!  How  marvelous  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  friend,  who  goes  out  in  the  right  spirit 
and  seeks  to  turn  his  friend  into  the  upward  way!  How 
God  blesses  a  simple  thing  like  that!  How  marvelous  are 
God's  providences,  some  of  them  white-robed,  and  some 
of  them  veiled  in  black,  to  turn  us  and  bestir  us,  and  give 
us  to  think,  and,  thinking,  to  turn  to  the  upward  way !  And 
above  all  and  through  all,  how  wonderful  is  the  work  of 
Christ's  great  witness  in  the  world,  namely,  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  this  Holy  Spirit  takes  of  the  things  of  Christ, 
and  brings  them  to  bear  on  men's  minds,  and  consciences. 
Many  are  God's  messengers  for  the  calling  of  the  people 
unto  himself. 

Now,  our  text  points  for  us,  to-night,  the  exceedingly 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    365 

solemn  truth  that  the  visits  of  God,  in  the  person  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  may  be  resisted.  In  the  case  of  these  men 
and  women  of  old,  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  where  Jesus 
lived  and  loved,  where  He  preached  and  prayed,  where 
He  wept  and  died,  there  many  resisted  His  heavenly  in- 
fluences, and  put  them  all  away,  and  went  the  downward 
way.  So  we  are  confronted  to-night  with  that  awful  pos- 
sibility in  human  life,  that  a  rational,  responsible,  human 
being  can  say  yes  or  say  no  to  the  call  of  God.  The 
highest  dignity  of  human  life  is  that  human  life  must 
choose  whether  you  will  be  for  God  or  against  Him. 
Along  with  that  highest  dignity  of  human  life,  in  which 
you  are  allowed  to  say  yes  or  no  to  God,  and  consequent 
upon  it  at  the  same  time  is  the  very  gravest  danger.  While 
you  and  I  may  say  yes  or  say  no  to  Jesus,  the  awful  peril 
is  that,  though  He  brings  to  bear  in  His  own  multiform 
and  wonderful  way  His  light  and  love.  His  counsel  and 
goodness,  summoning  us  to  come  the  right  road — ^the  fear- 
ful possibility  is  that  we  will  rise  up  and  resist  it  all,  and 
miss  the  upward  way.  One  thing  is  sure:  God  the  lov- 
ing Father  is  never  at  fault  that  a  sinner  is  lost.  Listen 
to  His  solemn  appeal:  "As  I  live"— and  He  swears  by 
himself,  for  He  can  swear  by  no  higher— "as  I  live,  saith 
the  Lord  God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of^  the 
wicked;  but  that  the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live." 
And  then  God  himself  exhorts :  "Turn  ye !  Turn  ye !  Why 
will  ye  die?" 

It  is,  indeed,  inflexibly  certain  that  Jesus  is  never  at 
fault  that  a  sinner  is  lost.  See  Him  here  in  our  text,  as 
He  stands  weeping  over  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  in  which 
were  many  people  who  had  turned  aside  His  counsel  and 
missed  the  road  to  heaven,  and  listen  to  Him  as  He  says : 
"Oh,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gath- 
ered thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  doth  gather  her 
brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!  Behold,  your 
house  is  left  unto  you  desolate."  Jesus  is  never  at  fault 
that  a  soul  rational  and  responsible  misses  the  way  of 
light  and  life  and  salvation. 

But  our  text  brings  us  on  to  a  still  more  serious  truth, 
and  that  truth  is  that  there  is  an  end  to  God's  visits  to 


366  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

rational,  accountable  human  beings.  When  does  such  end 
come  ?  I  shall  make  answer  to  that  in  two  remarks.  Mark 
it,  I  pray  you,  oh,  my  fellow-men  and  my  gentle  sisters, 
listening  so  deferentially  to  what  the  minister  says — mark 
it  well.  If  you  should  go  down  into  your  grave,  unrepent- 
ant and  unbelieving,  the  battle  for  your  soul  is  forever  lost. 
Destiny  eternal  is  settled  this  side  of  death.  "As  the  tree 
falls,  so  shall  it  lie."  Jesus  finally  turned  upon  some  men 
who  carped  and  caviled  at  His  words,  and  said :  "Ye  shall 
die  in  your  sins."  That  will  be  the  outcome  of  it  all.  And 
then  He  added :  "Whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come."  Destiny 
for  the  soul  is  determined  this  side  the  grave.  Christ's 
words  have  no  meaning,  if  that  is  not  correct,  and  the  man 
is  a  trifler,  a  trickster  with  words,  if  he  should  essay  to 
offer  a  rational  human  soul  hope  beyond  the  grave,  if  such 
man  shall  die  in  his  sins.  This  side  the  grave  is  determined 
the  big  question  of  whether  heaven  is  to  be  your  home, 
or  whether  it  is  to  be  the  dark  world  of  waste  and  night, 
the  name  of  which  is  hell.  Your  destiny  for  the  one  or 
the  other  place  will  be  decided  before  you  reach  death  and 
are  laid  in  the  grave.  Oh,  how  serious  is  that !  And  since 
death  comes  with  unexpectedness,  times  without  count, 
and  since  there  are  ten  thousand  gates  to  death,  and  since 
the  easiest  thing  in  all  the  world  is  just  to  die,  and  since 
the  coming  of  death  is  more  uncertain  than  the  morning 
cloud,  and  since  death  is  transitory  and  illusory,  and  the 
time  of  its  coming  is  known  only  to  God,  how  speedily 
should  every  rational  human  being  say:  "While  I  have 
my  wits  about  me,  while  my  mind  is  clear,  while  duty 
comes  knocking  at  the  door  of  my  heart,  while  need  is 
urgent,  while  danger  is  consciously  imminent  and  appar- 
ent, now  I  will  decide  the  biggest  question  of  all,  calmly 
and  gloriously,  by  making  my  surrender  to  Christ." 

I  was  preaching  in  a  3istant  community  some  months 
ago,  to  a  throng  of  thousands,  like  these  thousands  here 
to-night,  and  one  man  was  seen  to  be  greatly  interested, 
and  an  earnest  Christian  standing  near  him  went  over  to 
him,  and  ventured  to  whisper  a  word  to  him,  while  the 
last  song  was  being  sung.  Men  and  women  and  children 
came  down  the  aisles,  saying:    "The  battle  is  decided.  We 


PASSING  OF  RECIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    367 

will  surrender  to  Christ."  This  Christian  man  said  to 
the  interested  man:  "You  are  interested  and  serious  now; 
you  should  now  end  all  delay,  and  publicly  make  known 
your  surrender  to  Christ."  He  said :  "No,  I  will  see  that 
man  to-morrow.  I  will  talk  with  him  to-morrow.  I  will 
find  him  at  his  room  in  the  hotel  to-morrow,  and  I  will 
have  it  out  with  him.  I  will  not  settle  it  to-night."  But 
when  the  morning  came,  in  one  sharp  stroke,  with  a  strange 
turning  that  often  comes  to  human  life,  he  was  plunged 
into  unconsciousness,  and  before  noonday  went  away  into 
eternity.  Oh,  rational,  responsible  human  beings,  I  sum- 
mon you,  I  charge  you,  I  pray  you,  settle  first  things 
first,  the  supreme  things,  the  one  supreme  thing,  in  the 
day  of  your  health,  with  your  wits  about  you,  calmly, 
quietly,  thoughtfully,  grandly,  settle  this  supreme  matter 
while  you  may. 

There  is  the  other  answer  to  be  given  to  the  fact  that 
there  is  an  end  to  God's  visits  to  men.  Jesus  was  looking 
over  a  city  which  He  had  sought  to  help,  but  many  had 
failed  of  His  help,  and  Jesus  was  sobbing  out  Plis  heart, 
as  in  effect  He  said:  "Light  is  gone  and  opportunity  has 
passed."  They  were  yet  alive,  and  were  yet  in  health. 
They  went  about  their  tasks.  But  Jesus  said :  "Religious 
opportunity,  that  came,  and  was  clear  and  strong,  has  been 
refused,  and  now  it  passes."  Opportunity  of  any  sort 
pauses  at  one's  door,  but  if  that  opportunity  be  not  taken 
hold  of,  it  passes  and  is  returnless.  "The  mill  will  never 
grind  again  with  water  that  has  passed."  These  men  and 
women  had  heard  and  had  seen  and  had  felt  and  had 
known,  and  they  put  away  the  great  claims  and  counsels 
of  Jesus;  which  leads  me  to  say  that  my  judgment  is 
fixed  deeply  from  an  experience  of  twenty-odd  years  in 
dealing  with  men  and  in  studying  the  Word  of  God,  that 
there  is  no  peril  comparable  to  the  peril  of  resisting  re- 
ligious light  and  opportunity  when  they  come  to  the  human 
soul. 

AnH  when  opportunity  passes,  how  fearful  is  the  fate 
of  such  soul!  And  when  it  does  pass,  how  is  that  fearful 
tragedy  brought  about?  The  trouble  about  dealing  lightly 
with  religious  opportunity  and  religious  light  and  religious 


368  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

privilege  is  that  men  and  women  in  thus  dealing  lightly, 
sin  against  knowledge.  If  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  be 
worth  a  straw,  it  is  worth  more  than  the  material  world. 
One  soul  outranks  in  value  the  material  universe.  Now, 
to  deal  lightly  with  the  call  of  Jesus  and  the  death  of  Jesus 
for  such  soul,  is  to  sin  after  a  most  terrible  fashion.  Men 
hear  and  feel  and  intend  and  know,  and  yet  put  religious 
calls  away,  and  consequently  go  the  downward  v/ay. 

Nor  is  that  all.  Men  who  resist  God's  call  and  counsel, 
sin  presumptuously.  When  they  are  spoken  with  candidly 
and  faithfully  about  the  great  claims  of  Christ,  they  make 
answer:  "Yes,  I  grant  it  all,  but  I  will  risk  it.  I  will  pre- 
sume. I  will  wait.  I  will  defer.  I  will  delay."  And  they 
loiter  on  until  the  little  boat  takes  the  fateful  plunge  over 
the  rapids,  and  opportunity  is  forfeited  forever. 

Moreover,  when  men  thus  sin  against  light,  they  sin 
with  the  will.  The  human  will  is  the  initial  spring  of  ac- 
tion. Men  hear  and  know  and  feel  and  intend  and  desire, 
and  yet  they  delay.  They  sin  against  the  will,  and  that 
involves  premeditation  and  decision.  Men  hear  Christ's 
call,  and  their  judgments  and  consciences  and  moral  na- 
tures say  yes.  But  they  go  on  and  say:  "Not  yet.  I  will 
not  have  Christ  to  reign  over  me  yet."  They  go  on  and 
say,  like  one  of  old  said :  "Go  thy  way  for  this  time.  When 
I  have  a  convenient  season  I  will  call  for  thee."  And  in 
that  way  light  darkens,  and  convictions  fade,  and  religious 
opportunity  passes. 

Still  again,  when  men  sin  against  God's  clear  call  to 
repentance  and  faith,  they  sin  against  God's  Spirit,  who 
takes  of  these  great  truths  and  binds  them  on  men's  judg- 
ments and  consciences.  When  men  rise  up  and  say: 
"Though  I  know  it  is  right,  and  though  I  feel  its  weight 
and  power,  yet  I  will  put  it  all  away,"  men  are  sinning 
against  God's  great  messenger,  even  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
who  is  wooing  and  counseling  and  convicting  and  drawing, 
that  the  people  may  come  to  Christ  and  be  saved.  And 
this  Divine  Spirit,  in  His  wooing  power,  is  God's  first,  last 
and  supreme  messenger  to  turn  the  world  to  Christ  Jesus. 
If  men  sin  against  God  the  loving  Father,  as  they  do, 
there  is  Jesus,  the  offered  Savior,  who  is  men's  proffered 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    369 

helper,  if  they  will  only  have  Him.  If  men  put  Jesus  away, 
the  Holy  Spirit  patiently  calls  and  counsels  and  woos,  and 
they  feel  it  and  know  it,  that  God  is  striving  with  them. 
If  men  put  this  Holy  Spirit  away  and  say:  "I  put  light 
and  duty  and  God's  call  out  of  my  thoughts/'  by  such  defi- 
nite resolve  and  effort,  they  are  sinning  against  God's  last 
great  court,  His  Holy  Spirit,  who  would  turn  sinful  men 
and  women  toward  the  Father's  house  of  light  and  love 
and  life.  And  just  there  is  the  peril  of  all  perils.  Oh, 
there  is  no  peril  like  the  peril  of  the  human  soul  which 
feels  and  says:  "I  ought  to  follow  Christ,  but  I  will  not 
now!"    There  is  no  peril  so  serious  as  that. 

Years  ago  I  was  preaching  in  one  of  our  cities  on  that 
solemn  text:  "Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
I  was  making  the  point  that  a  man  may  so  resist  light 
and  counsel  from  God,  that  light  will  at  last  turn  to  dark- 
ness ;  that  a  man  may  so  trifle  with  conviction  of  a  course 
that  he  ought  to  take,  until  the  conviction  gets  fainter  and 
feebler,  and  at  last  he  seems  to  have  no  conviction  at  all. 
I  was  making  the  point  that  somewhere  in  its  fight  against 
God,  the  human  soul  may  put  away  these  highest  matters, 
until  at  last  they  seem  to  have  no  weight,  no  meaning,  no 
appeal  at  all.  And  no  sooner  had  I  said  that,  than  a  man 
in  the  audience,  perhaps  forty-five  years  of  age,  with  the 
gray  beginning  to  tinge  his  hair,  stood  in  the  audience  and 
said :  "Preacher  man,  you  are  describing  my  case."  I  said : 
"Not  consciously ;  I  do  not  even  know  you ;  I  am  discussing 
the  Word  of  God."  "Very  well,"  he  said,  "but  that  is  my 
case ;  you  are  describing  my  case,  and  if  you  do  not  mind," 
he  said,  "I  will  tell  you  a  little  about  it."  I  said :  "I  will  be 
pleased  to  let  you  tell  us.  Maybe  we  can  help  you.  I  want 
to,  if  I  can."  He  said:  "Years  ago,  when  I  was  a  young 
man,  I  had  often  heard  and  felt,  concerning  religion ;  I  had 
often  been  counseled  and  called,  I  had  often  trembled  and 
resolved,  but  I  kept  putting  the  matter  off.  I  kept  saying: 
To-morrow.'  I  kept  saying:  'By  and  by.'  And  at  last, 
there  came  a  powerful  appeal  from  God's  man  one  day, 
where  all  of  my  mind  and  conscience  and  heart  and  will 
were  aroused  beyond  words,  and  I  felt:  *This  is  the  su- 
preme crisis.    This  is  the  hour  epochal  for  my  soul.'  Other 


370  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

men  went  down  the  aisles  to  make  known  their  surrender 
to  Christ,  but  I  held  out  against  it  all,  and  by  and  by  I 
summoned  myself  and  said,  down  in  my  soul:  *I  will  not 
follow  God  until  it  suits  me.  It  does  not  suit  me  at  all 
just  now,  and  I  will  put  it  off,'  though  I  trembled  through 
it  all,  like  the  aspen  leaf."  And  then  he  looked  at  me 
sadly  a  moment  or  two  and  said:  "Preacher  man,  that 
day  I  went  over  the  line.  That  day  I  passed  the  day  of 
grace.  That  day  my  soul  died,  and  your  teaching  as  to 
the  peril  there  is  in  resisting  God's  Spirit  applies,  sir,  to 
my  own  poor  case."  Quickly  did  I  adjourn  the  service, 
and  then  I  sought  him  out,  and  for  two  long  hours  I 
brought  to  bear,  as  best  I  could,  the  glorious  invitations 
of  Jesus  to  sinful  men,  no  matter  what  their  sin  or  doubt 
or  fear  or  difficulty.  For  two  hours,  I  brought  to  bear 
these  promises  and  calls  of  Jesus  on  this  man,  and  yet  he 
heard  me  through  it  all,  and  said:  "Sir,  I  have  had  no 
response  at  all  for  years.  I  have  crossed  the  line,  and  I 
know  that  I  have  crossed  it." 

I  cannot  discuss  the  philosophy,  the  psychology,  the 
deep  meaning  of  this  case.  I  do  not  know  it.  I  am  simply 
making  the  point  that  somewhere  the  human  soul  may 
resist  God  and  His  love  and  light  and  heavenly  leading, 
so  late,  so  far,  so  long,  that  light  turns  into  darkness,  and 
convictions  fade,  and  the  highest  things  are  missed  and 
lost.  There  comes  again  the  old-time  hymn,  emphasizing 
this  same  point  of  the  danger  of  putting  away  religious 
light,  religious  calls  for  the  human  soul,  the  danger  of 
putting  them  off  until  to-morrow.  Let  us  ponder  again 
the  solemn  lines: 

There  is  a  time,  T  know  not  when, 

A  place,   I  know   not   where. 
Which  marks  the  destiny  of  men 

To  heaven  or  despair. 

There  is  a   line  by  us   not   seen. 

Which  crosses  every  path; 
The  hidden  boundary  between 

God's   patience  and   His   wrath. 

To  cross  that  limit  is  to  die. 

To    die,    as   if   by    stealth. 
It  may  not  pale  the  beaming  eye, 

Nor  quench  the  glowing  health. 

The  conscience  may  be  still  at  case, 
The   spirits  light   and  gay. 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    371 

That  which  is  pleasing  still  may  please, 
And  care  be   thrust  away. 

But  on  that  forehead  God  hath  set 

Indelibly  a  mark. 
By  man   unseen,   for  man   as  yet 

Is  blind  and  in  the  dark. 

And   still   the   doomed   man's   path   below 

May  bloom  like   Eden  bloomed. 
He  did  not,  does  not,   will  not  know, 

Nor  feel  that  he  is  doomed. 

He  feels,  he  sees,  that  all  is  well. 

His   every   fear   is   calmed. 
He   lives,   he   dies,   he   wakes   in  hell, 

Not  only  doomed,  but  damned. 

Oh,    where    is    that    mysterious    bourn, 

By   which   each  path   is   crossed, 
Beyond    which    God   himself   hath   sworn 

That  he  who  goes  is  lost? 

How  long  may  men  go  on  in  sin. 

How  long  will  God  forbear? 
Where  does  hope   end,  and  where  begin 

The  confines  of  despair? 

One  answer  from   those  skies  is  sent. 

"Ye  who   from   God  depart. 
While  it  is  called  to-day,  repent. 

And  harden  not  your  heart." 

My  fellow-men,  if  there  be  interest,  if  there  be  an  awak- 
ening, if  there  be  concern,  if  there  be  a  wish,  however  faint, 
if  there  be  a  longing,  however  feeble  and  fluttering,  it 
makes  its  cry  in  your  heart,  if  it  be  there,  to  be  right  with 
God,  to  have  your  sins  forgiven,  to  be  saved,  if  I  were  in 
your  place  I  would  to-night  make  my  surrender  to  Christ, 
if  I  had  to  go  through  fire  and  through  flame  to  make  that 
surrender;  for  if  a  man  passes  his  day  of  grace,  and  when 
the  battle  for  the  soul  is  finally  lost,  then  spiritual  things, 
this  text  tells  us,  are  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  such  soul 
and  life.  Jesus  said:  *'Oh,  men  of  Jerusalem,  who  have 
let  your  religious  opportunity  be  forfeited  and  lost,  now 
these  religious  truths  and  matters  are  hidden  from  your 
eyes."     Hidden!     No  light  now! 

Have  you  ever  been  through  Mammoth  Cave,  that  won- 
derful, subterranean  cavern  yonder  in  Kentucky?  If  you 
have  been  through  there,  the  guide  has  shown  you  fish 
in  those  subterranean  waters  whose  eyes  look  like  other 
eyes  in  other  fish,  and  yet  the  guide  goes  on  to  tell  you 
that  these  fish  have  been  so  long  in  the  darkness  of  those 
underground  waters  that  they  cannot  see  at  all.  One  awful 
truth  stands  out  from  the  teaching  of  this  text  and  many 


372  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

other  teachings  of  Jesus  elsewhere  in  the  Bible -^  that  a 
man  can  put  away  religious  light  so  long,  so  late,  so  far, 
so  terribly,  that  at  last  he  may  not  see  at  all. 

As  men  fight  the  call  and  counsels  and  pleadings  of 
God  for  their  souls,  they  come  to  the  place  where  feeling 
grows  less  and  less  with  every  appeal  that  is  made.  Less 
and  less  does  the  heart  respond,  if  truth  is  heard  and  felt 
and  granted,  and  yet  set  aside  and  put  away.  It  is  an 
awful  sentence,  there  in  the  Bible,  about  the  conscience 
being  seared  as  with  a  hot  iron,  so  that  at  last  the  human 
soul  reaches  the  place,  in  its  conscience,  where  it  is  past 
feeling.  If  the  doctor  is  summoned  to  his  patient,  and 
the  family  and  the  patient  explain  to  the  doctor  when  he 
comes  that  the  patient  has  no  feeling  in  part  of  the  body, 
that  part  of  the  body  being  utterly  unresponsive,  the  doc- 
tor shakes  his  head  ominously,  for  that  sign — no  feeling — 
is  the  precursor  of  serious  trouble.  I  have  been  many  a 
time  with  the  great-hearted  cattlemen  in  the  West — glo- 
rious, mighty  men !  For  years  I  have  rejoiced  to  be  with 
them  in  their  camp-meetings,  and  many  of  them  have  I 
seen  as  they  yielded  their  lives  to  Jesus.  No  true,  nobler 
men  have  I  ever  met  in  the  world  than  these.  I  have  been 
out  there  and  have  seen  them,  after  the  meetings  a:_I  be- 
fore, as  they  would  have  the  cattle  rounded  up  for  brand- 
ing, and  I  have  seen  them  put  the  hot  branding-iron  on  the 
cattle,  and  I  have  heard  the  cattle  moan  and  low  and  have 
seen  them  flinch  under  that  hot  branding-iron.  And  then 
the  cattle  are  released,  v/hen  the  hot  iron  has  burned  the 
brand,  and  you  may  go  back  a  few  weeks  later,  and  take 
that  same  branded  place,  and  pick  such  branded  place  with 
knife  or  pin,  and  yet  the  beast  cares  little  for  it  now\  That 
branded  place  is  now  past  feeling.  Oh,  the  peril  that  the 
human  soul  shall  be  desensitized,  if  a  man  hears  and  knows 
and  feels  the  call  of  God,  but  says:  "I  will  put  it  all  away 
until  some  indefinite  future." 

It  follows,  ray  fellow-men,  that  the  most  serious  thing 
in  this  world  is  the  resistance  of  the  religious  light  that 
comes  to  you.  The  most  serious  thing  in  the  w^orld  is  the 
putting  away  of  light  and  feeling  when  God's  gospel  is 
preached,  and  the  soul  is  sought  after,  and  the  soul  hears 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    373 

and  trembles  and  feels,  and  yet  puts  it  all  away.  That  is 
the  most  serious  and  presumptuous  risk  ever  taken  by 
the  human  soul.  I  am  coming  to  say  a  most  serious  closing 
word,  namely:  There  comes  a  last  visit  from  God  for  the 
human  soul.  When  is  that  visit?  Certainly,  no  man  is 
wise  enough  to  know.  But  there  comes  a  last  visit  from 
God,  seeking  for  a  rational  human  soul.  When  is  that 
visit?  Will  it  be  this  year?  Will  it  be  this  month?  Will 
it  be  this  week?  Will  God's  last  visit  for  an  intelligent, 
an  awakened,  responsive  soul  to  come  to  Him,  be  to-night? 
God  alone  knows.  No  man  can  tell.  But  when  we  consider 
the  possibilities  of  such  startling  fact,  then  we  may  well 
long  for  our  every  face  to  be  in  the  dust  of  prayer  to  God, 
that  no  rational  human  soul  in  this  place  to-night  shall  be 
willing  to  go  on,  when  everything  is  at  stake,  and  put  God's 
call  away  into  some  vague,  indefinite  hour  of  the  indeter- 
minate future! 

Oh,  man  or  woman  or  child,  in  this  vast  assemblage 
to-night,  wrong  with  God,  I  summon  you,  if  you  have  any 
degree  of  desire  to  be  saved,  I  summon  you,  act  on  that  de- 
sire, act  on  that  light,  and  make  your  surrender  to  Christ. 
Mark  it!  Mark  it!  The  great  issue  confronts  you,  and 
what  is  that  issue?  You  have  to  make  a  choice  between 
Jesus  and  Satan.  One  or  the  other  is  the  master  of  every 
rational  human  soul.  Which  shall  your  choice  be?  You 
must  make  a  choice  between  two  lives — a  life  on  the  right 
side,  or  a  life  on  the  wrong  side.  Which  should  be  your 
choice?  You  must  make  a  choice  between  two  deaths — 
the  death  of  peace  and  triumph,  because  of  Jesus,  or  the 
death  of  waste  and  fearful  terror,  because  you  have  put 
Jesus  away.  Which  death  would  you  die?  You  must  make 
a  choice  between  one  of  two  positions,  when  you  stand  at 
the  judgment  bar  of  Christ.  One  of  two  positions  there 
shall  be  yours.  He  will  have  us  to  pass  to  His  right  hand, 
because  we  trusted  Him  here,  or  we  will  turn  away  to  His 
left  hand,  because  we  let  the  day  of  opportunity  go  by  un- 
improved. Which  shall  your  choice  be?  It  is  a  choice 
between  one  of  two  worlds  after  this  world.  Out  yonder 
is  the  world  of  love  and  life  and  peace  and  hope  and  knowl- 
edge   and    holiness    and    ever-increasing   blessedness,    the 


374  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

name  of  which  is  heaven;  and  out  yonder  is  the  world 
of  sin  and  waste  and  failure  and  defeat  and  remorse,  the 
name  of  which  is  hell.  We  must  here,  with  our  wits  about 
us,  make  our  choice.  Oh,  soul,  since  there  is  so  much  at 
stake — ^j'our  soul,  your  life,  your  all — ought  not  this  most 
important  of  all  matters,  this  Sunday  night,  to  have  your 
wisest  choice? 

And,  remember,  whatever  may  be  your  difficulties, 
Jesus  is  master  of  any  case.  Do  you  tell  me:  "Sir,  my 
difficulties  are  terrible,  beyond  human  speech?"  I  do  not 
mind  that.  I  am  not  given  pause  by  that.  Though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  if  you  will  surrender  to  Christ,  He  will  save 
you.  Though  your  doubts  are  like  the  stars  for  number, 
if  you  will  surrender  to  Christ,  He  will  save  you.  Though 
your  temptations  are  fiery  with  the  hot  breath  from  the 
pit  below,  if  you  will  surrender  to  Christ,  He  will  save  you. 
Though  you  tell  me:  "Sir,  I  cannot  see  through  it,  I  can- 
not understand  it,  I  cannot  reason  it  out,  yet,  sir,  I  want 
to  be  saved,"  I  answer  you  back  in  a  moment,  that  if  you 
will  surrender  to  Christ,  saying:  "Lord  Jesus,  I  cannot 
see  through  it.  I  am  frail,  I  am  weak,  I  am  unworthy,  I 
am  sinful,  I  am  tempted  and  temptable,  yet  I  will  wholly 
give  up  to  Christ,  who  died  for  sinners,"  Christ  will  take 
you  and  save  you  this  very  hour. 

What  do  you  say,  then,  about  the  incomparable  issue? 
Oh,  the  hundreds  and  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  Christian 
men  and  w^omen  here,  who  want  to  join  the  preacher  in 
prayer  for  those  that  are  not  right  with  God,  that  such 
may  hasten  to  be  right  with  God,  without  further  risk 
or  presumption,  to  be  right  with  God — the  vast  army  of 
Christians  that  want  to  join  the  preacher  in  prayer  for  you ! 
I  will  show  you  that  they  do.  Every  one  here,  who  has 
made  definite  surrender  of  himself  to  Jesus  to  be  his  Savior, 
and  now  takes  up  the  preacher's  sermon,  and  would  pass 
it  on  to  all  the  people  who  have  not  decided  for  Christ, 
and  v/ho  also  would  unite  with  the  preacher  in  the  prayer 
to  God  that  He  may  now  be  merciful  to  the  people,  every 
Christian  that  says :  "That  is  my  case,  sir,"  lift  your  hand 
high,  that  the  people  may  see  you  thus  witness  for  Christ 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    375 

I  thanK  you!    I  believe  the  angels  look  upon  it,  moved  in 
spirit,  as  they  see  it, 

I  have  a  moment  more  to  detain  you  before  we  sing 
our  closing  hymn  and  go  our  way.  I  am  here  to  ask — in 
this  last  m.oment,  when  I  would  give  my  heart's  blood  to 
help  you,  and  God  knows  I  speak  the  truth — I  would  give 
my  heart's  blood  to  help  you,  and  am  giving  it  right  now — 
in  this  last  moment,  I  am  coming  to  ask  every  man,  v/oman 
and  child,  a  professor  of  religion  once,  a  church  member 
once,  and  maybe  yet,  but  all  wrong  with  God,  and  sadly 
drifting  and  backslidden,  and  neglecting  duty,  and  also  to 
ask  every  person  not  in  the  church,  not  decided,  not  for- 
given, not  saved,  not  a  Christian,  every  person  here  who 
says:  "I  am  wrong  with  God,  and  I  know  it;  but,  sir, 
I  tell  you  truly  that  I  want  to  be  right  with  God  before 
it  is  too  late ;  I  want  to  be  right  with  God  before  my  soul's 
opportunity  goes  by  and  is  lost,  and  I  want  you  who  pray 
to  pray  that  I  may  be  right  writh  God  before  it  is  too  late ;" 
every  soul  that  says,  *That  is  my  desire,"  will  now  lift 
your  hand,  and  we  will  offer  our  most  fervent  prayer  for 
you.    Oh,  it  is  an  appealing  sight  to  see  so  many  hands! 

My  brother  men  and  gentle  women,  and  boys  and  girls, 
settle  the  great  matter  right  now,  I  pray  you,  and  settle 
it  right  by  being  for  Christ  forever.  I  am  not  willing  to 
part  from  you,  never  to  meet  you  all  again  until  we  meet 
at  the  judgment  bar  of  God — I  am  not  willing  to  part  from 
you  without  pleading,  yea,  beseeching  that  here  and  now 
every  soul  that  says :  "I  have  sadly  drifted  as  a  Christian ; 
my  life  is  marred  and  miserable  from  backslidings,  but  I 
will  renew  my  vows  to-night  with  God ;  I  will  come  back 
and  surrender  afresh  to  Christ" — I  am  not  willing  to  go 
without  asking  you  to  come  and  take  my  hand,  in  this 
public  pledge  of  your  honest  surrender  to  Jesus. 

Nor  am  I  willing  to  let  these  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren go,  who  are  not  saved,  not  ready  to  die,  not  ready 
to  live,  not  ready  for  any  world — I  am  not  ready  to  let 
you  go,  without  begging  that  right  now  you  will  stop  and 
say:  "I  will  this  hour  make  my  surrender  to  Christ.  Here, 
with  my  heart's  highest  resolve,  in  Fort  Worth,  I  publicly 
register  my  verdict.     It  is  yes  for  Christ.     Lord  Jesus, 


376  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

to-night,  through  the  darkness,  and  with  all  my  limitations, 
and  sins,  and  doubts,  and  hesitation,  I  will  surrender  my; 
case  to  Christ.  I  will  now  register  my  verdict."  If  that 
is  your  heart's  decision,  come  and  take  my  hand.  Oh,  God 
of  all  grace,  give  the  people  to  act  like  they  ought,  and  as 
they  will  wish  they  had,  when  they  stand  before  Christ  at 
last!    For  His  great  name's  sake! 

They  are  going  to  sing  that  simple  song,  "J^sus  is  ten- 
derly calling  thee  home,  calling  to-day,  calling  to-day," 
and  the  great  press  of  people  will  stand  in  a  minute,  as 
quietly  as  you  can  stand,  until  we  finish  this  singing,  with- 
out any  one  leaving,  unless  you  must,  so  that  we  may  help 
in  these  last  moments,  every  interested  person  here,  to 
the  limit  of  our  power  to  help.  And  I  am  asking  anew,  as 
we  sing  this  simple  gospel  song:  Where  is  the  backslid- 
den Christian,  who  says:  "I  will  register  publicly  my 
verdict;  I  am  going  to  renew  my  vows  right  now  with 
Christ,  and  surrender  myself  afresh  to  Him?"  And  where 
is  the  man,  or  the  woman,  the  boy  or  the  girl,  that  an- 
swers :  "No ;  that  is  not  my  case.  I  never  have  given  my 
verdict,  never  have  made  my  surrender,  but  I  will  make 
it  right  now?"  It  is  difficult  for  you  to  come,  but  I  am 
going  to  ask  you  to  do  a  difficult  thing,  and  that  is,  to 
come,  as  difficult  as  it  is,  through  this  vast  press  of  people. 
I  am  asking  you  to  come  and  take  my  hand,  and  then  pass 
back  to  your  pew,  as  they  sing  these  stanzas.  Everybody 
will  rise  to  sing.  You  will  begin  with  that  stanza,  "Jesus 
is  pleading."  Isn^t  that  true?  You  have  heard  Him  to- 
day. "To-day,  if  ye  vnll  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your 
heart."  You  have  heard  Him.  You  said  so,  with  your 
uplifted  hand,  a  moment  ago.  Satan  does  not  care  that 
you  now  are  interested,  if  you  will  only  delay.  He  does 
not  care,  if  you  will  just  postpone  your  decision  until  some 
other  time. 

(The  first  and  second  stanzas  were  sung,  while  numbers 
came  forward.) 

Yonder,  to  the  great  Northwest,  a  young  civil  engineer 
went  to  construct  a  bridge  across  a  mountain  chasm,  and 
after  weeks  and  months,  with  his  group  of  helpers,  he 
had  almost  finished  the  bridge  at  the  close  of  a  certain  day. 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    377 

He  said  to  his  men:  "Come  back  men,  after  supper,  and 
we  will  finish  it  in  about  an  hour,  and  I  will  pay  you  a 
day's  wages  for  the  extra  hour."  "No,"  they  said,  "we 
have  made  other  arrangements."  He  said:  "Come  back, 
and  I  will  give  you  two  days'  wages."  They  said:  "No; 
but  why  do  you  urge  it?"  He  said:  "If  a  great  storm 
should  come  down  to-night  on  the  mountains,  it  would 
sweep  this  unfinished  bridge  away.  We  have  not  quite 
secured  the  bridge."  But  they  went  their  way,  saying:  "It 
won't  rain  in  months."  But  the  clouds  were  filled  with 
rain  that  very  night  and  emptied  their  floods  upon  the 
mountains,  and  the  floods  came  down,  resistless  in  their 
power,  and  swept  the  unfinished  bridge  utterly  away.  Oh, 
men  and  women,  that  is  a  parable  and  picture  of  the  soul 
that  knows  and  wishes,  and  yet  presumes  and  delays  and 
waits. 

As  I  was  leaving  Washington  City,  some  time  ago,  I 
stood  in  one  of  the  depots  there,  and  saw  a  strange  mark 
on  the  wall,  and  I  asked  a  policeman  what  it  meant,  and  he 
said  at  once:  "You  are  a  stranger?"  "Yes."  "That  is 
the  death  mark  for  President  Garfield,  who  was  standing 
right  here  when  he  received  the  bullet  from  the  man  who 
took  his  life,  and  this  singular  mark  is  put  here  on  the 
wall  to  indicate  the  place  where  he  met  his  death."  Oh, 
to-night,  I  wonder  if,  standing  there,  or  there,  or  sitting 
here,  or  somewhere  under  the  sound  of  my  voice  —  I 
wonder  if  some  soul,  hearing  and  feeling  and  interested, 
says:  "Not  to-day;  by  and  by;  not  yet,"  and  shall  go 
away,  and  this  shall  be  the  place  and  the  time  of  the  death 
mark  for  your  human  spirit.  God  forbid,  and  I  pray  it 
from  my  deepest  heart! 

Does  the  man  and  woman  say,  and  the  child:  "I  am 
ready  to  burn  the  bridges,  to  cast  the  die,  to  cross  the 
Rubicon.  I  am  ready  to  cut  the  cables.  I  am  ready  to- 
night to  register  publicly  my  surrender  to  Christ?"  Come 
then,  as  they  sing  earnestly  this  third  stanza  now. 

(The  third  stanza  was  sung,  and  numbers  cam©  for- 
ward.) 

These  men  and  women  who  have  come  have  done  as 
they  ought,   when   they  pressed   forward   here,   with   the 


878  A  QUEST  FOR  SOULS 

aisles  thronged,  even  from  the  outskirts  of  the  great  press, 
and  some  from  beyond  the  tent.  Great  sight,  these  numbers 
that  have  come.     But  not  all  have  come.     Listen! 

Why  do  you  wait,   dear  brother, 

Oh,    why   do  you   tarry   so   long? 
Your   Savior  is   waiting  to   give  yott 

A  place  in  His  sanctified  throng. 


Listen  again: 


What  do  you  hope,  dear  brother  (or  sister)» 

To  gain  by  a  further  delay? 
There's  no  one  to  save  you  but  Jesus, 

There's  no  other  way  but  His  way. 

Listen  yet  once  again: 

Do  you  not   feel,   dear  brother,  _ 

His    Spirit    now    striving    within? 
Oh,   why  not  accept  His  salvation 

And  throw  off  thy  bixrden  of  sin? 

Oh,  my  friends,  a  multitude  have  come — strong  men, 
gentle  women,  and  two  or  three  of  these  blessed  children — 
a  multitude !  Have  all  the  men  come  who  ought  to  come  ? 
And  the  women?  Have  all  the  boys  and  girls  come  who 
ought  to  come?  Do  others  say:  "I  am  coming.  I  shall 
not  simply  stop  with  ^almost;'  I  will  be  altogether  per- 
suaded. I  will  act  up  to  the  light  I  have,  to  the  last  limit 
of  all  I  know  to-night?  Jesus  tells  me,  whatever  my  case 
is,  my  need,  my  doubt,  my  sin,  my  wandering,  my  waste, 
my  difficulty,  my  temptation,  if  I  will  surrender  to  Him 
honestly.  He  will  forgive  me  and  save  me.  I  will  make  that 
surrender." 

(The  last  stanza  was  sung,  during  which  still  others 
came  forward.) 

You  see,  my  Christian  friends,  all  these  people  who 
have  come  forward,  and  you  saw  those  who  came  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  auditorium  to-day,  and  the  others 
who  came  from  day  to  day.  I  beseech  you  to  do  your  duty  by 
them  all.  And  you  who  have  come  to  Christ  to-night,  num- 
bers and  numbers  of  you,  go  now  and  live  for  Christ.  Take 
your  place  with  Christ's  people  promptly,  and  be  faithful 
members  in  His  church.  And  you  who  have  not  yet  come 
to  Christ,  but  are  almost  persuaded,  oh,  before  you  give 
yourselves  to  sleep  to-night,  I  beseech  you  to  make  the 
surrender  of  yourselves  for  time  and  eternity  to  the  great 
good  Savior! 


PASSING  OF  RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITY    379 

Yonder  on  the  battlefield  at  Gettysburg,  when  the  awful 
conflict  had  passed,  an  army  surgeon  came  back,  looking 
for  the  wounded  and  suffering,  if  haply  he  might  help 
them,  and  he  saw  the  dead  on  every  side.  As  he  rode  along 
he  saw  a  poor  fellow  lying  in  a  trench.  The  surgeon  reined 
up  his  horse,  but  thought:  "I  need  not  dismount;  this 
poor  fellow  is  gone."  And  then  he  saw  a  smile  play  about 
the  man's  face  as  he  lay  there  in  the  trench.  The  surgeon 
then  dismounted  and  got  down  in  the  trench  beside  the 
dying  man,  and  every  minute  or  two,  he  said  that  smile 
v^ould  play  about  the  dying  soldier's  face,  and  he  would 
whisper  one  little  word.  The  word  was,  "Here !"  Present- 
ly, the  army  surgeon  shook  the  man  and  rallied  him  back 
from  the  gates  of  death  for  a  minute,  and  said :  "Comrade, 
what  do  you  mean  by  saying,  'Here?'"  And  the  dying 
fellow  answered:  "Oh,  Doctor,  they  are  calling  the  roll 
up  in  heaven,  and  I  was  just  answering  to  my  name, 
'Here !' " 

Oh,  men  and  women  and  children,  with  my  last  sen- 
tence, I  beseech  you,  as  this  call  comes  to-night  from  the 
great  Savior  to  you,  answer  Him,  and  say:  "Lord  Jesus, 
I  decide,  and  receive  thee  as  my  personal  Savior  and  Mas- 
ter, and  by  thy  grace  I  am  going  from  this  Sunday  night 
with  thee,  forever!" 

THE   CLOSING  PRAYER. 

And  now,  as  the  people  go,  we  give  God  our  devoutest  thanks  for  His  irrar*. 
and  favor  upon  us  his  hour,  and  on  the  afternoon  hour,  and  on  theVe  rSnt 
rnT^M^f^!- ^^^'  ^V^^  mercies  and  blessings  of  these  glorious  days,  we  gt^e 
God  all  the  praise.  Every  dust  of  the  glory  shall  be  His  Mantr  io,,^  <  ^5 
Christ  these  days,  and  have  confessed  Him.  To  God  be  a  1  the  pS.e  f  Q  hers 
we  hope,  are  already  trusting  Him  in  secret,  and,  if  so.  may  they  soVedilv  r  '  ' 
fess  Him!  May  all  those  who  have  found  Him  be  led  of^  thee  to  take  the^I 
places  in  thy  church,  with  God's  own  people,  to  live  as  they  ought  fo?  H^m  from 
this  June  month,  even  until  God  calls  them  to  the  Father's  hfuse  above  An? 
oh,  may  Qiristians  drifting,  whatever  the  cause,  and  lapsed  church  r^'^r^K' 
whatever  the  cause,  be  rallied  now  all  through  thisVast  exS^ng  d  f  to  Chri^^^^^ 
cause  and  church  and  holy  service.  Oh,  may  there  be  a  gracious  iisitaLn  from 
Jesus  to  every  house  in  all  this  city  May  Jesus  this  ve'v  Sund.v  ^  X  Jfc^ 
every  house,  from  the  fairest  mansion  to  the'^humblest  ho^eHn  all  the  ci^  Yea 
may  Jesus  kriock  at  the  door  of  every  heart  in  the  city,  bringing  the  briath  of  Gnd'^ 
goodness  and  mercy  to  every  life.  And  may  we  all  be  trSe  f  o  Hir^  at  the  nos 
where  He  would  have  us  live  and  labor,  even  until  the  earfhly  da-  is  done  and 
ibove."fTreve'r:^o°re!°  '^  ''^  ^•"''  ^"^  *°  ^^   ^'^^   «-'   >"   "^^   Faiher?^hou"se 

T^^^;^  ^/y^i^^^  "^?nt^d%^J^^i7aS^  '^:..'!'r,f-\T.'\.1 


'^ 


Princeton 


Theological  SeminarvLib^^^ 


1012  01203  3405 


DATE  DUE 


#3523P|       Printed  in  USA 


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t--      .i»«-'  •'" 


